'Vergine Giurata' (Sworn Virgin), a debut feature by Laura Bispuri starring Alba Rohrwacher, is the only Italian film in competition at the 65th Berlin Film Festival.
The Italo-French-Swiss-Albanian co-production is the story of an Albanian girl who, according to a local custom, takes on a man's garb to gain freedom and autonomy.
Bispuri also wrote the screenplay for the acclaimed drama, along with Francesca Manieri.
The film, mostly shot in Italy's mountainous northern Alto Adige region, is an adaptation of the bestselling book by Elvira Dones, which was recently translated into English.
Albanian sworn virgins (Albanian: burrnesha or virgjinesha) are women who take a vow of chastity and wear male clothing in order to live as men in the patriarchal northern Albanian society. To a lesser extent, the practice exists, or has existed, in other parts of the western Balkans, including Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro.
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