Alissa Jung's 'Paternal Leave' Premieres at Berlinale with Luca Marinelli

Alissa Jung made her feature directorial debut with 'Paternal Leave' at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, screening in the Generation 14 section. The film stars Luca Marinelli, her real-life partner, as Paolo, an Italian father who meets his teenage daughter Leo (Juli Grabenhenrich) for the first time on the Romagna Riviera. A co-production between Italy and Germany, it will be released in Italian theaters in spring 2025 by Vision Distribution. Jung, who trained as a pediatrician and founded the NGO Pen Paper Peace, said the film explores parent-child relationships and the reasons some parents abandon their children. Shot in multiple languages (Italian, German, English), the film deliberately avoids a soundtrack to focus on performance, featuring only two songs: 'Hold Your Own' and Giorgio Poi's 'Solo per gioco.' Marinelli, fresh from success in 'M. Il figlio del secolo,' described the story as a father and daughter meeting at similar life junctures, with the daughter serving as a mirror for the father. Jung cited Italian directors Alice Rohrwacher, Pietro Marcello, and Jonas Carpignano as influences.