Director Carlo Lavagna and Writer Chiara Barzini Welcomed at JCU Department of Communications Screening of "Arianna"

Director Carlo Lavagna (left) with Writer Chiara Barzini at John Cabot University

The John Cabot University Department of Communications was pleased to host director Carlo Lavagna and writer Chiara Barzini for a screening of their 2015 film, Arianna.

“Arianna is a film that questions the relationship between power and abnormality and the consequence of this conflict. Questioning your identity is a human experience that makes you feel like an outsider,” says Mr. Lavagna

Director Carlo Lavagna

Carlo Lavagna is an Italian filmmaker, director and producer of documentaries, commercials, and art-house shorts. His works have been presented at many festivals, including venues in Locarno, Gothenburg, New York, Rome and Milan. Chiara Barzini is a screen and fiction writer. Films written by her have been distributed in Italy, Spain, Japan, and Latin America.

Arianna (2015) is the creative duo’s first collaboration, as well as their first treatment of the topic of hermaphroditism. Film critics such as Guy Lodge have praised the film as “a stylish, tender debut feature” and a “worthwhile addition to the growing pile of alternative gender studies on film.” The film has been screened at several festivals, including the Venice Film Festival, and the London Film Festival.

The screening was followed by a Q & A session, coordinated by Communications senior Jasmine Manari. Lavaga and Barzini engaged with audience questions, elaborating specifically on the emotional origins of the film.

Lavagna noted that Arianna comes from a startling thought from his subconscious as a child, as he dreamed of becoming a woman, and therefore found himself confronted with a fundamental question he had never considered: why are we given this identity and not another? This led Lavagna and Barzini to discuss intersexuality, which Lavagna considers an opportunity to “define the boundaries of power’s jurisdiction over those who pose a threat to it, whether they do so intentionally or otherwise,” as explored in the film.

Read Variety Magazine’s review of Arianna (2015) here.
Learn more about the Department of Communications at John Cabot University.