SYNOPSIS

Filmed on the rugged and beautiful Sicilian coast, ALONE WITH HER DREAMS explores the universally timely themes of family separation, emigration, generational conflicts and feminine repression. Set in the late 1960’s, Lucia is left behind with her grandmother while her parents emigrate to France to find work. Lucia is greatly distressed that she must stay in Italy and struggles to learn her role in the tiny, traditional village under the watchful guidance of her stern grandmother, who Lucia struggles to understand. Unbeknownst to the young girl, her grandmother hides a hideous family secret which endangers Lucia’s well-being.

TRAILER

VIRTUAL CINEMA SCREENINGS

REVIEWS

The Hollywood Reporter
By John DeFore

“an accessible import built around its child star’s very strong acting debut… A golden-hued, lightly sentimental period picture following an adolescent girl around a seaside Sicilian village, Paolo Licata’s Alone with Her Dreams would have fit nicely into that batch of European imports that, around the start of the 90s, Miramax effectively sold to American viewers who might otherwise have steered clear of subtitled fare.”

Easy Reader News
By Neely Swanson

“beautiful [and] melancholic … But it is the brilliant Lucia Sardo as Nonna Maria who drives this film. The anger and focus of her character give “Alone with her Dreams” the force and depth that distinguishes it from other so-called coming-of-age movies because it is actually about how Nonna Maria frames the future for her granddaughter. Sardo is able to portray fury, small-minded hatefulness, and bone-crushing humiliation with a single glance. Essentially unknown outside of Italy, Sardo is a star, a truly great actress who has been relegated to supporting roles over a very long career. Licato has rectified that with this film.”

Common Sense Media
By Kat Halstead

“A superb Italian drama from debut director Paolo Licata, this movie may be slow-paced, but this only adds to its intensity. Beautifully filmed, with a languid, dreamlike quality that often serves to release Lucia from the gritty realities of day-to-day life, the rugged Sicilian coastline is at once a symbol of wildness and adventure, and danger and isolation. Female repression is a strong theme, a mixture of untold sexual violence and stigmatization lurking beneath the surface as the women of the story go about their lives, each battling with their own secrets and lies.”

Shock Ya!
By Harvey Karten

“Without question this is a coming-of-age story but rises above the glut of such dramas by Lorenzo Adorisio’s photography on a seacoast area of Sicily that might be sought out by tourists seeking a peaceful vacation away from the treasures of Rome… This is Paolo Licata’s freshman offering as director, a person who may have a difficult time carving out a future story as tender and yet as unsentimental as this one, its two principals bonding as though they were parts of an actual family.”

Film Intuition
By Paola Casella

“Requiring patience in viewers used to having most things spelled out for them in the first ten minutes of a movie, “Alone With Her Dreams” uses a natural approach that’s more indicative of classic Italian neorealist filmmaking.  Eschewing the building blocks of most coming-of-age fare, while initially, I wasn’t sure what to make of it, the film grows both more compelling and more universally relatable with each successive scene. Reminiscent of the way that the family sagas helmed by Taiwanese New Wave filmmakers preferred to let their characters live and breathe rather than try to manufacture a protracted plot out of thin air, while Licata’s “Alone With Her Dreams” isn’t for every filmgoer, those who stay with it will find it’s a hard movie to shake.”

Spirituality & Practice
By Mary Ann Brussat

 “a well-wrought and memorable coming-of-age-drama . . . Director Paolo Licata, who also wrote the screenplay with Ugo Chiti and Catena Fiorello, does a masterful job depicting the challenges, moral dilemmas, ethical quandaries, family secrets, religious doubts, and sexual problems Lucia must deal with as she comes of age. This earnest and intense Italian drama manages to touch our hearts thanks to the remarkable performances by Marta Castiglia as Lucia and Lucia Sardo as her grandmother.”

The Brazilian Press
By Roger Costa

“Paolo Licata’s debut is a lyrical meditation on the young feminine universe, its innocence, discoveries and challenges. Impressively shot with bright views on the astonishing landscape and atmospheric interiors, Licata delicately addresses women’s repression, immigration, prejudice and faith seen through Lucia’s experiences, while paving the way for a redemptive climax depicting the importance of forgiveness.”

By Oliver Stone, Director

“A new Italian classic from the heart – shocking!”

MyMovies.it
By Paola Casella

“Paolo Licata and Catena Fiorello love all these great women as well as their land full of dazzling light and very deep shadows”

South Gazette – Italy

“A film that conquers all. Lucia Sardo is amazing.”

Live Sicily – Italy

“A profound and emotional work.”

South Press – Italy

“the small Marta Castiglia is moving. A phenomenon”

FESTIVALS / AWARDS

• Taormina Film Festival – BEST SCREENPLAY
• Ortigia Film Festival – AUDIENCE AWARD