A Year of School / Un Anno di Scuola
September 2007. From her home in Sweden, Fred moves to Trieste with her father, who has taken a new management job in the Northeastern Italian city. Feisty and curious, she enrolls in the local technical high school for her Senior Year, finding herself as the only girl in an all-male class. She quickly becomes the center of attention, especially for three friends: the fascinating and reserved Antero, the outgoing womanizer Pasini, and the sweet and protective Mitis. The three have been a unit for as long as they can remember. Fred yearns to be accepted into their circle and become one of them.
Laura Samani’s gem of a second feature film is successful in many ways. It strikes us that the camera seems to always be ideally placed to capture the important details of the sometimes crowded scenes of a school setting. These details, more often than not, are to be noticed on the faces of these volcanoes of hidden emotions that an 18 year old can be.
Directing these young actors is another of the filmmaker's towering achievements. There's the luminous, Kate Winslet-channelling Stella Wendwick, a young Swedish woman who learned Italian to play Fred. Giacomo Covi, incredible as Antero, won an acting award in Venice where the film premiered. A Year of School is, ultimately, about youthful love and desire, and following Samani's emotionally intelligent gaze, we fall in love again.
Groggy with all these emotions, we cannot wait to see Laura Samani’s next film. And the next.
This film is eligible for the Spirit of the Festival Award for Best Film award and Best Screenplay, Audentia Award and Lookout Award.
This screening is supported by Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Dublino.
Cork International Film Festival is delighted to return to its Principal Venue, The Arc Cinema on North Main St, Cork, for its 70th Festival edition, Thursday 6th to Sunday 16th November 2025.
The Arc Cinema Cork is home to The GATE Screen — a space dedicated to preserving and celebrating the legacy of the beloved former Gate Cinema — and an ideal spot for meeting fellow festival goers in between screenings. The GATE Screen features luxurious double sofa seats and tables, creating an intimate and sophisticated viewing experience. It is dedicated to showcasing arthouse films, including independent and local productions, foreign and Irish language titles throughout the year.
