OFFICIAL SELECTION – 2025 CANNES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (In Competition)
The elegant and moving new film from award-winning writer/director Mario Martone (Nostalgia, The King of Laughter), FUORI follows a decisive event in the life of renowned Italian feminist writer Goliarda Sapienza, brilliantly and bravely portrayed by Valeria Golino.
Rome, 1980. Unable to get her novel The Art of Joy published – a book she has been working on for a decade – author Goliarda Sapienza (Golino) finds herself briefly imprisoned after she steals some jewellery from a wealthy friend as a provocation. However, the experience turns out to be life-changing: Goliarda discovers a world without class barriers and forms a deep bond with some of the younger inmates, including repeat offender and political activist Roberta (Matilda De Angelis).
After their release and over the course of a sweltering summer, the women continue to meet. Her friends’ stories and struggles for independence liberate Goliarda, who re-discovers the joy of living, and the drive the write again.
Inspired by Sapienza’s 1983 autobiography The University of Rebibbia, written in the years following the events depicted in the film, FUORI is an inspiring story of friendship, female solidarity and the concept of freedom, capturing the essence of a remarkable woman ahead of her time, an author who found fame only after her death but whose artistic and intellectual aspiration for personal and collective freedom remains both prophetic and topical.