A Year of School

A Year of School / Un anno di scuola

Laura Samani, Italy, France, 2025, 102’, ap + svp 

After moving from Sweden to Trieste, Fred enrolls in a technical high school, where, as the only girl in her class, she experiences the role society assigns to women in a male-dominated world.  

After moving from Sweden to Trieste, Fred enrolls in a technical high school, where, as the only girl in her class, she experiences the role society assigns to women in a male-dominated world.  

Enjoying great critical and popular acclaim, the second feature film by Trieste-based director Laura Samani is set in Trieste, a cinematic city where crossing the border or switching between Italian and Slovenian in everyday conversation is a common occurrence. At a local technical high school, fate brings together three longtime friends with a Swedish girl named Fred, who recently moved to the city to live with her father and ends up being the only girl in the class. Her understandable desire to integrate into her new environment and fit in disrupts the balance in the established friendship among the three boys (all four young actors deliver magnificent performances in their acting debuts), highlights the fragile balance of adolescence, and challenges a male-dominated environment. Amid the seemingly carefree time spent together in local nightspots and the hills of Trieste, internal conflicts (and attempts to discover one’s own identity) begin to surface, heralding the transition to adulthood. Inspired by the eponymous short story by Trieste-based writer Gianni Stuparich, set in 1909 when girls were first allowed to attend high school—a mandatory step toward university studies, freedom, and independence—A Year of School will captivate and move audiences of all ages. Beneath the surface of what appears to be a typical coming-of-age story lies much more: a rare, sincere, and unvarnished look at a pivotal period in life. 

Laura Samani (1989, Trieste) made her directorial debut with the short film The Sleeping Saint (La santa che dorme, 2016), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and continued her career with the multi-award-winning film Small Body (Piccolo corpo, 2021), which won the David di Donatello Award for Most Promising Young Director, in addition to numerous other accolades (such as the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes, and the European Film Award). The film A Year of School was presented at the Venice Film Festival (2025) and won the award for Best Director and Screenplay for filmmakers under 40, the Orizzonti section award for Best Actor (for Giacomo Covi), the Lanterna Magica Award, and the Nuovo IMAIE Award for Best New Actor (for Giacomo Covi, Pietro Giustolisi, and Samuel Volturno). 

In collaboration with Cinema Istria. 

With support from the Italian Cultural Institute. 

Introduction: Giacomo Covi, Pietro Giustolisi, Samuel Volturno