Interview: Emanuela Rossi on Women, Fatherhood and Religion

Emanuela Rossi, director of Darkness, explores the themes that have inspired her first feature, as well as the film’s prophetic nature.

was released in 2019, when Covid was still an unexplored threat, lurking in the background. So, the first striking theme of the film is its resemblance to our current situation. In fact, it’s set in a world in which women are not allowed to leave the house. While this may sound like an exaggerated version of our reality, the disproportionate impact the pandemic had on women is grounded in reality. In Italy, 98% of the 101,000 who lost their job due to the pandemic are women, according to Istat. This, combined with worries surrounding domestic violence, has contributed to making women one of the most affected groups during the pandemic. Rossi evidently recognises this as an issue plaguing society.

Rossi said: “The closure and isolation of the protagonists renders them vulnerable to men who have a predatory nature. For this reason what is happening now, with women being forced back home, exposes them to many problems and dangers.”

Though by her own admission the themes of isolations have been explored before in similar formats, Rossi decided to offer a different…