There's Still Tomorrow

Pre-film of the Feminist Film Festival FeFi:
Labod / Slovenia, 2021, 6 min / Evelin Bizjak, Neja Rakušček, Monika Rusak, Anja Ružica Tadić, Tjaša Tomc (at the Luksuz production workshop)

Twenty years after the Labod factory in Krško ceased operations, former workers are reminiscing about their work. The factory space has been left to the passage of time, which flows through the spaces and presents us with an allegory of decay. Only plants have found their place there, serving as an ironic adornment to fond memories.

There's Still Tomorrow (C'e ancora domani)

Paola Cortellesi / Italy, 2023, 118 min / in Italian with Slovenian subtitles

Delia (Paola Cortellesi) is Ivan's wife and the mother of three children. A wife and a mother. It seems natural to her that these two roles define her. In the mid-1940s in Rome, she supports a typical family living in the city, trying to find a balance between the positive momentum triggered by liberation and the misery left by the war. Ivano (Valerio Mastandrea) is the undisputed master of the family. He earns barely enough, but works hard to keep a roof over their heads and feels entitled to remind everyone who supports the family. Sometimes just with harsh words, other times with the help of his belt. His demanding father Ottorino (Giorgio Colangeli) is the only person he respects. The ill-tempered elder requires round-the-clock care, and Delia is the only one who can provide it. The highlight of her day is the time she spends with her confidante and dear friend Marisa (Emanuela Fanelli). In the spring, the family looks forward to the imminent engagement of their beloved eldest daughter Marcella (Romana Maggiora Vergano) to a middle-class boy, Giulio (Francesco Centorame). They know that the girl's greatest hope is to marry quickly, and Delia sees a suitable marriage for her daughter as a life goal. Until one day, a mysterious letter arrives, igniting her courage to overturn all plans and start wishing for a better life—not just for herself.

The directorial debut of Paola Cortellesi, in which she also stars, depicts a woman in post-war Italy breaking traditional family patterns and striving for a different future. This black-and-white, neo-realistically inspired comic drama became the biggest hit in Italian cinemas last year, surpassing even Barbie and Oppenheimer.

What accounts for its success? The film's irony and tenderness in addressing the harsh realities and themes of patriarchy and feminism in the post-World War II era.

Distributor for Slovenia: Demiurg