Best Italian Documentary
| TITLE | Tempo d’Attesa |
| COUNTRY | Italy |
| YEAR | 2023 |
| DIRECTOR | Claudia Brignone |
| LENGHT | 74′ |
| FORMAT | 2K |
| SOUND | Marco Saitta |
| MUSIC | Valerio C. Faggioni, Roberta D’Angelo |
| EDITING | Lea Dicursi |
| SCREENPLAY | Claudia Brignone |
| PRODUCTION | Altara Films, Amarena Films, Rai Cinema |
It’s summer, and the warm sunlight bathes Teresa as she walks towards the shade of a large Magnolia tree. Teresa, a midwife, is seventy years old, with braided white hair and a welcoming smile. Seated in a circle under the tree are about ten pregnant women, all with different stories and background and at different stages of pregnancy. As they introduce themselves and share fragments of their lives they reflect with Teresa on the transitional phase they are going through. We see the same women in their intimacy, as they are visited by Teresa; some of them welcome the camera during the labor and the birth of their children. From their stories a tapestry of emotions, doubts, and fears is woven. Many images arise from their words, an intertwining of lives in which pregnancy becomes an opportunity for personal exploration and transformation.
“Waiting Time” is a reflection on birth, on what it means to be a parent today, and on the path that turns a woman into a mother and the psychological and cultural aspects of this journey.The film travels into the lives of these women who come together in a circle and remain connected, as creating a community becomes a genuine need.
Reasons For Award
Tempo d’Attesa won the First Prize for Best Italian Film for its insightful and honest exploration of the ambivalence and anxieties experienced by women from diverse backgrounds while awaiting childbirth. This intimate portrait brings much-needed attention to a rarely represented topic, making the film particularly timely in light of pressing issues such as the high rate of cesarean sections and obstetric violence in Italy, underscoring the need to improve maternal healthcare.
The film makes strong use of an observational mode, sensitively and discreetly capturing the emotions of women both during antenatal classes and in more intimate contexts such as visits and birth situations. This approach allows viewers to connect with the subjects and experience their journey first-hand.
Director Claudia Brignone’s careful structure, centered on an engaging antenatal class, follows the women’s journey toward childbirth. Particularly touching is the depiction of their uncertainty about childbirth and how they will navigate the process, along with the roles of their partners. Tempo d’Attesa stands out for its honest portrayal of a universal but often overlooked experience.
DIRECTOR
Claudia Brignone
Born in Naples in 1985, she graduated in Communication. She began her studies in documentary filmmaking in 2009 at Act Multimedia in Rome, where she produced the short film “Marcello.” She continued to develop her skills through various workshops and residencies, learning from renewed artists such as Pietro Marcello, Sara Fgaier, Marco Pasquini, and Tarek Ben Abdallah. In 2014, she directed her first documentary film, “La Malattia del Desiderio” (57’), which won the Audience Award at the SalinaDocFest. That same year, she participated in the Filmap project, an Atelier of Cinema del Reale in Ponticelli, coordinated by L.Di Costanzo, where she created the short film “L’Altalena”. She also contributed to the shooting and editing of the film “Aperti al Pubblico” by S. Bellotti, which won the Audience Award at the Festival dei Popoli. In 2019, she presented her second feature-length film, “La Villa,” in the “Alice nella Città” section of the Rome Film Festival. This film was developed through the In Progress workshop organized by Milano Film Network and co-produced by Videomante, a Friulian company, and Rai Cinema. “Tempo d’Attesa” is her third documentary.
