APNEA
Sonia Ladidà Schiavone
Italy
Oddny is only 18, but she can hold her breath like a creature of the sea. While training as an apnea swimmer, an accident will bring to the surface her doubts about the future.
SYNOPSIS
In an Icelandic pool, Oddny and other girls train as apnea swimmers with Gisli, the middle-aged trainer, and with Ovidio, the Italian lifeguard and lifecoach. As Oddny is ready to become a professional, a serious accident brings her to doubt about herself.
At the pool, the corpse of a girl is found, lying on the surface of the water: a training accident. On that friend’s face, Oddny sees the reflection of her possible future.
In this growth process, as Gisli remains only a sport guide, Ovidio helps Oddny to find the answers she is looking for.
INTENTION
Apnea is the second part of a series of short films describing the growth process from youth to adulthood, especially focusing on young athletes that experience or assist to a serious sport accident. The first film, Round 0, deals with male youth, while Apnea depicts a female perspective. Additionally, both projects portray young characters who are passionate about sports that could potentially kill them. So, for Round 0 I chose boxing, while for Apnea I opted for indoor apnea.
These projects are being developed as a hybrid between fiction and documentary, personally involving real Italian young athletes who had a close experience with death. However, this project is not meant to be a biographical film, and for this reason, I set the story not in Italy, but in Iceland; and not in the ocean, but in the pool. I considered that this peculiar island can be the proper background where to create an intimate human portrait.
In a further attempt to connect a Nordic and a Mediterranean culture, I also would like to join the strong social value of pools in Iceland with the same strong value of the sea for Italy.
DIRECTOR
Sonia Ladidà Schiavone
Sonia (Avellino, Italy) graduated in Directing & Film Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples. Her graduation short doc Heimaey, Home Island was selected by festivals like Beldocs (market), Ischia Int. FF, LIDF, OFF Cinema. Because of her interest in Nordic films, she moved to Iceland, studying production at the National Film School. She also collaborated with local projects (such as A White, White Day by Hlynur Pálmason).
Sonia is currently based in Copenhagen, working as an assistant for the Oscar-nominated Final Cut for Real and for CPH:DOX Industry.
Round 0 is her last short film, which had its European premiere at Tromsø Int. FF (Norway) and American premiere at Hamptons Int. FF (NY).
Genre
Coming of Age
Length
15 min
Language
Icelandic, English, Italian
Shooting Location
Iceland
Looking for
Producer, Coproducers