Una Femmina – The Code of Silence

Rose was a child when her mother died, and the family had an explanation ready for her: suicide. Except the fragments of memory that come to the young woman as she is growing up in the care of her grandmother and despotic uncle in a remote part of Calabria suggest something else. In her desire to understand the past and the family dynamic, Rosa uncovers the laws of the mafia world, in which she had only been a passive element until now. The need for defiance increasingly smoulders within her. Screened at Berlin, this evocative drama with its feminist subtext relies on expressive performances, sombre visuals and genre interplay. Director Francesco Costabile was inspired by the true stories of women who stood up to the ‘Ndrangheta, the most powerful organised crime syndicate in Italy. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)