Documentaries in Maribor, 2nd - 7th November 2007

hi-res foto 1
hi-res foto 2

Italy, 2005

Documentary film

Directed and written by:
Alberto Vendemmiati

Cinematography:
Alberto Vendemmiatifrom Afganistan after 9/11 to mental disorder, the most recnt one being La Persona De Leo N.
Production:
A La Fabbrichetta, Zaroff Film production, Alberto Vendemmiati

Contact:
Deckert Distribution
Peterssteinweg 13
04107 Leipzig, Germany
t: +49 (0) 341 215 66 38
f: +49 (0) 341 215 66 39
e: [email protected]
w: www.deckert-distribution.com

Format:
DV-Cam

Running time:
87’

The Italian Law of 1982 guarantees the possibility to undergo subsidized surgical rectification of the sexual organs and to the subsequent alterations to the bureaucratically sexual identity of those who go through the procedure foreseen by law. It is a long journey which is complex and psychologically painful. Because there is nothing more intimate and yet at the same time of greater social significance than one's sexual identity. For this reason, many opt out of the official and thereby public procedure as indicated by law, preferring to turn instead to private structures, principally abroad.

As a twelve-year-old boy, Nicola De Leo already knew she wanted to become a woman. Today, the now forty-year-old transsexual lives in Venice and has changed her name to Nicole. "I never thought it could be so hard. I thought making the decision was enough..." The person De Leo N. (as referred to in the psychiatric files which analyse the transgendering from Nicola to Nicole) made the public choice, and this documentary tells that story. During five tense years, Nicole fights her emotional and physical struggle in the presence of director Alberto Vendemmiati's camera. Working as an actress, a seller of Venice carnival masks and a prostitute, she finances her cosmetic treatments and looks forward to the subsidised sex change operation. Meanwhile, she turns to her elderly mother for support, who has a hard time accepting that her son will soon be a daughter. A personal story is a portrait of the needs and desires, the fears and the hopes of every human being who strives through great sacrifice and courage to realize their personal identity.

Festivals and Awards (Selection):
2005 IDFA (Joris Ivens Competition)
2006 DocPoint Helsinki
2006 One World Human Rights FF Prague
2006 Thessaloniki IDF
2006 DocAviv Tel Aviv
2006 Munich Documentary Festival
2006 SILVERDOCS Silver Spring
2006 Pärnu IFF
2006 Sheffield IDF
2006 Verzio Human Rights FF Budapest
2006 Cardiff IFF
2006 WATCH DOCS Human Rights FF Warsaw
2007 Seoul Human Rights FF
2007 Netherlands Transgender Film Festival Amsterdam
2007 Hamburg Gay Lesbian Film Festival

Alberto Vendemmiati
Alberto Vendemmiati received his diploma at the Scuola di teatro di Bologna and then worked for some years as a theatre actor. In 1993 he graduated from the University of Bologna in Spettacolo e Comunicazione. In 1994 he received his diploma in directing from the Scuola Nazionale di Cinema in Rome. His short films from that period, in which he explored the boundaries between fiction and documentary, were screened at various international festivals. In 1996, he established Quadra Image, the film company. The numerous documentaries he made got awards at international film festivals. His themes vary from Afganistan after 9/11 to mental disorder, the most recent one being La Persona De Leo N.