Alice Rohrwacher's Christmas Short Film 'Le Pupille' Debuts on Disney+

Alice Rohrwacher's short film 'Le Pupille', lasting 37 minutes, debuted on Disney+ on December 16, 2022. The live-action piece draws inspiration from a Christmas letter penned by Elsa Morante to Goffredo Fofi and is set in a wartime religious boarding school. Filmed over two weeks in Bologna at a facility for the deaf and mute, using Super 16 and 35mm film, it delves into themes of desire, freedom, devotion, and anarchy through the perspectives of orphaned girls. The film features a cast that includes Alba Rohrwacher, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, and others. Co-produced by Alfonso Cuarón, Gabriela Rodriguez, and Carlo Cresto-Dina, it was showcased at Cannes 75, Telluride, Toronto, and Il Cinema Ritrovato. Rohrwacher describes it as a handmade, analog film where wonder can arise unexpectedly. The title references the girls (from Latin 'pupillae'), whom she wishes to see as disobedient.