On March 9, the feminist film masterpiece "There is Tomorrow" held its premiere in Beijing. Italian director Paola Cortressi and screenwriters Giulia Calenda and Fario Andreotti attended the post-screening and shared their feelings and experiences of the filming with experts and audiences on site. The film was released nationwide on March 8.
Group photo of the three main creators
"There is Tomorrow" is a film with a black-and-white image style, and the story is set in Italy after World War II in 1946: housewife Delia (played by Paola Cortressi) struggles to survive every day under the tyranny of her husband Ivano (played by Valerio Mastandrea) and the trivialities of taking care of the elderly and children, and her daughter Marcella's marriage makes her even more worried. All this is like a heavy burden, which makes her breathless. Only her friend Marisa and the mechanic Nino who loves her deeply are the comfort in her painful life. However, the turning point of fate came quietly, and Delia unexpectedly received a mysterious letter. After reading it, Delia began to plan an escape... Where is she going? The answer will be revealed at the end of the movie.
There is still tomorrow poster
There is Tomorrow is the first film directed by Paola Corte Reci, an Italian "national treasure" actress. It presents a unique narrative perspective of a female director through a brisk visual style and a comedic shell, and wins the audience's resonance with its sharp and profound story core. It has won many awards at international film festivals such as the Rome Film Festival, Pingyao International Film Festival, and the Italian Film David Award. It also won the 2023 Italian annual box office champion (ranked among the top ten in Italian film history). As of press time, the film's Douban score has risen to a high score of 9.4.
Paula Cortez
At the premiere, Liang Hong, a professor and writer at the School of Literature of Renmin University of China, expressed her tribute to the director. "This is a very shocking female film with a touch of black humor. It uses 'light' to express 'heavy' and laughs to express crying. The scene where Delia suffers domestic violence is expressed through poetic dance. At the end of the film, she puts on lipstick, and everyone's mood fluctuates with her running steps... When she and her daughter look at each other, it is also the director talking to the audience. It encourages each of us to do something."
"If we want to change the current situation of women, men and women should act together," said Paula Cortress. "We did take the feelings of female audiences into consideration when designing the domestic violence scenes. We don't want to evoke their painful experiences, but we also don't want to distract the audience with very specific details. In fact, what is unacceptable is not the way domestic violence is carried out, how to punch or kick, but the fact that the behavior itself is unacceptable."
Stills from Tomorrow
"It's like an old friend." Pan Ruojian, a professor at the Department of Literature at the Beijing Film Academy, said in his speech that it is a delight to see a new Italian film on the big screen in China after so many years. "'And Tomorrow' reminds me of 'Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow' (released in 1963) directed by the old Italian director De Sica. The so-called 'right' of today comes from the 'wrong' of yesterday, and what we do today will inevitably affect the picture of tomorrow. This movie allows us to see the continuation of the Italian neo-realist film style, and also shows the unique optimism and humor of Italians when facing the hardships of life. It is not easy to present such a heavy topic of awakening in the form of comedy. This is a powerful and hopeful masterpiece."
"To be compared with a master like De Sica? I really don't deserve it. We are just 'students' in film creation." Paola Cortressi and the two screenwriters said modestly, "In fact, among all the Italian neo-realist directors, not only De Sica, but also predecessors such as Roberto Rossellini, their works will inevitably influence the creation of today. Whether in the daily life of Italians or in the creation of filmmakers, humor is actually indispensable. The more serious the topics are, the more we can discover how powerful humor is."
"When presenting the most serious, tragic and ugliest phenomena, senior directors always approached them from an absurd, ironic and humorous perspective, and the power generated from this was often unexpected. When we were creating, we would consciously or unconsciously draw on the neo-realist style after World War II. For example, in the neo-realist masterpiece "Rome, Open City", this is such a tragic and heavy theme, but Rossellini also gave it room for humor in his treatment. Before the explosion scene at the end of the film, a priest rushed out and hit the Nazi with a stick, which made people laugh." Screenwriter Fario Andreotti added.
Screenwriter Fario Andreotti
The soundtrack of There Is Tomorrow undoubtedly complements the plot of the film. Paola Cortressi said that the songs for Delia smoking on the rooftop, running to the voting station, and the ending song are "La sera dei miracoli", "Bombs Over Baghdad" and "The Little Things". "I chose all these soundtracks. I usually listen to a lot of music. This time, when creating, I often chose the music first and then gave birth to the picture composition. For example, the rock-style lyrics of the soundtrack for Delia's running do not correspond to the content of the film, but the emotions of each other complement each other; for example, in the last scene, the female voters sang with their mouths closed, and the mother and daughter stared at each other in silence. What we want to convey to the audience with non-verbal elements is that silence is better than words at this time. These music clips were already determined when we were writing the script, and they are also a kind of narrative language."
Paola Cortressi finally said that "There is Tomorrow" was created for her daughter Lauretta, and is also a film dedicated to all young girls. "The origin of creating this film is my grandmother's life and the event that Italian women first won the right to vote in 1946. My grandmother was a witness of that era. She did not suffer such a tragic family situation as Delia in the film, but she did live in an era where women's rights were generally far less than men's. If we only look at Delia's story, this is indeed a fabrication by us, but there were many "Delias" in that era, and their stories and struggles should be told. The recognition of women's rights has undoubtedly made great progress at present, but gender discrimination has not been completely eliminated, but exists in a more hidden way in those corners that are not easy to see."
Stills from Tomorrow
There Is Still Tomorrow is the first film promoted by China Film Co., Ltd. after the establishment of the "Romantic Film Distribution Department" (Unknown Pleasures Pictures). The "Romantic Film Distribution Department" was co-founded by Jia Zhangke of Xihe Xinghui Pictures and Tian Qi of Renjian Zhinan Pictures. In the future, it will focus on the purchase and promotion of international films and is committed to providing richer content resources for Chinese screens.
At the post-screening party held that evening, Jia Zhangke said with a smile that the "Romantic Film Distribution Department" had just obtained its business license on March 8. "Like everyone else, "There Is Tomorrow" also made me cry. In addition, we currently have eight films in reserve, which will be gradually promoted to domestic theaters. What I can tell you is that there will be blockbusters among them." He introduced that when naming the new company, the word "romance" came from the Japanese version of "The Romantic Generation", "New Century Romanticism", and the company's English name "Unknown Pleasures" was the English title of his previous work "Ren Xiaoyao".
Stills from Tomorrow
