Famed male Italian director tells Venice he was born a woman

VENICE (Reuters, Sept. 4, 2008) – Emanuele Crialese was awarded the Best Italian Director Award and revealed that he was born a girl as he presented his autobiographical film “L’Immensita”, starring Penelope Cruz at Venice Film Festival.

“L’Immensita,” a film about an Italian family in 1970s Rome, focuses on the eldest daughter, who identifies herself as a boy. This adds tension to already heated relations between Cruz and Cruz’s abusive father.

Crialese said, “It is inspired from my childhood and my personal story.” Crialese’s last film, Terraferma, won the Special Jury Prize at Venice in 2011.

“I was biologically a woman. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have a significant part of me (that is a), female character. He said that this is the most important part of him, when he spoke publicly about his transition.

“At a point I had made a decision… to either live or die. This kind of journey is not something you choose. He said, “You are born that way.”

Although he did not provide any details about his transition, he said that despite his tender film, he relied upon his mother for support. He also acknowledged the anxiety it caused.

The film is set in Italy and shows Cruz as a flamboyant character who falls under the weight of her husband, overbearing children, and her troubled trio. All three have suffered the traumas of being raised in unhappy homes.

Cruz won the Venice Best Actress Award for “Parallel Mothers” last year. She said that her character is trapped in a situation where there was no escape.

“There are many women in the world who live in fear in their homes and pretend to be okay in front of their kids. It’s just survival. She told reporters that she knew some of these stories, which were terrible and horrendous.

“L’Immensita,” the latest film in a long list of films in which Cruz plays a mother is the most recent in a line of films in which Cruz has played this role. She said that she felt drawn to it from a young age in Spain.

“(I had] a strong maternal instinct from the time I was five years-old. I was telling everyone in the park about my plan to be a mother as soon and as quickly as possible,” she stated.

Reporting by Crispian balmer; Editing By Hugh Lawson

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