NEON announced that it has taken North American rights to Jonas Carpignano’s festival sensation A Chiara, which won the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European film in the Directors’ Fortnight section at Cannes.
A Chiara follows the Guerrasio family and friends who gather to celebrate Claudio and Carmela’s oldest daughter’s 18th birthday. There is a healthy rivalry between the birthday girl and her 15-year-old sister Chiara as they compete on the dance floor. It is a happy occasion, and the close-knit family are in top form. However, everything changes the next day when the father disappears. Chiara starts to investigate. As she gets closer to the truth, she is forced to decide what kind of future she wants for herself.
The film marks the second time Carpignano takes the award, after previously winning for 2017’s A Ciambra, the second film in his Calabrian Trilogy.
Written by Carpignano, the dramastars Carmela Fumo, Claudio Rotolo and Swamy Rotolo. Photography is by Tim Curtin, sound by Giuseppe Tripodi, production design by Marco Ascanio Viarigi, editing by Affonso Goncalves and music by Academy-Award® nominated director Benh Zeitlin and Dan Romer.
