Alice Rohrwacher (, ; born 29 December 1980) is an Italian film director, editor and screenwriter. Her film '' Le pupille'' was nominated for Oscar in 2023 in short film categories.

Early life

Rohrwacher was born in

Fiesole Fiesole () is a town and '' comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of that city. It has structures dating to Etruscan and Roman times. ...

, in

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

, to an Italian mother and German father. She spent her youth in the village of

Castel Giorgio Castel Giorgio is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Terni in the Italian region Umbria, located about southwest of Perugia and about 60 km northwest of Terni on the Alfine Highland, facing the Lake Bolsena. The municipality of Ca ...

, where her mother was born and her father Reinhard worked as a

beekeeper A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees. Beekeepers are also called honey farmers, apiarists, or less commonly, apiculturists (both from the Latin '' apis'', bee; cf. apiary). The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees i ...

. She is the sister of the Italian actress

Alba Rohrwacher Alba Caterina Rohrwacher (, ; born 27 February 1979) is an Italian actress. Early life Alba Rohrwacher was born in Florence, the daughter of a German father and an Italian mother. From the age of 17 to 21 she studied medicine, intending to be ...

. She studied literature and philosophy at the

University of Turin The University of Turin (Italian language, Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public university, public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the List ...

, then specialized in screenwriting at the Holden School in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

Career

Her first experience in filmmaking was in 2006, when directing a part of the Italian documentary ''Checosamanca''. In 2011, she directed her first feature film, '' Heavenly Body'', which premiered at the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festi ...

during the

2011 Cannes Film Festival The 64th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition and French filmmaker Michel Gondry headed the jury for the short film competition. South ...

to critical acclaim. Her second feature film, '' The Wonders'', won the

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

at the

2014 Cannes Film Festival The 67th Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2014. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the main competition section. The Palme d'Or was awarded to the Turkish film ''Winter Sleep'' directed by Nuri Bil ...

. Also in 2014, Rohrwacher was appointed the President of the International Jury for the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. She announced filming of her third film '' Lazzaro Felice'' in 2017 with the film starring Sergi López and Rohrwacher's sister

. The film premiered at the

2018 Cannes Film Festival The 71st annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 8 to 19 May 2018. Australian actress Cate Blanchett acted as President of the Jury. The Japanese film '' Shoplifters'', directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, won the Palme d'Or. Asghar Farhadi's psy ...

where it won the award for Best Screenplay. It was released by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

in December of that year. Rohrwacher was invited to serve on the jury for the

2019 Cannes Film Festival The 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 14 to 25 May 2019. Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu served as jury president. The Palme d'Or went to the South Korean film '' Parasite'', directed by Bong Joon-ho; Bong became ...

Style

Bong Joon-ho Bong Joon-ho (, ; Hanja: 奉俊昊; born September 14, 1969) is a South Korean film director, producer and screenwriter. The recipient of four Academy Awards, his filmography is characterised by emphasis on social themes, genre-mixing, black h ...

described her work as "a mix of magic realism and neorealism, innocent characters butting up against corrupt behemoths".

Filmography

As filmmaker

Other work

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rohrwacher, Alice 1980 births Living people Italian film directors Italian screenwriters Italian women film directors Italian people of German descent Italian women screenwriters People from Fiesole University of Turin alumni Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay winners