“A Year of School”, interview with director Laura Samani

Laura Samani spoke to Fred Film Radio at the Cinema Made in Italy festival in London about her latest feature “A Year of School”. Premiering at the Venice Film Festival, the coming-of-age story follows Fred, a Swedish teenager who arrives in Trieste and becomes the only girl in a class of boys during their final year of school. With its playful tone and moments of comedy, the film invites audiences to reconnect with teenage memories while exploring the complicated mix of desire, friendship and belonging that shapes that age.

A lighter film about youth

After the intense process of making her debut “Small Body”, Laura Samani said she felt the need for a lighter story. It had been emotionally demanding to write, develop and bring to audiences, so working on a coming-of-age film with young actors allowed her to shift the energy. The story also has a personal connection: Laura Samani attended the same school in Trieste where the novel is set and first read it while sitting “at the very same desks” as the characters.

Desire and the language barrier

At its heart, “A Year of School” is a film about desire — and about how differently it can be expressed depending on gender. Fred wants two things at once: she falls in love with one of the boys but also wants to belong to their group as an equal. According to Laura Samani, the tension between those desires drives the story, because unlike the boys, she cannot freely have both. Language reinforces this dynamic: the characters switch between Italian and English, reflecting the idea that men and women sometimes feel as though they “don’t speak the same language”. For Laura Samani, language also becomes a subtle tool of power, as Fred gradually adapts to the group’s language and behaviour.

Shifting the gaze

The film also plays with perspective. At the beginning, viewers are placed within the boys’ point of view, almost sharing their gaze as they observe Fred. As the story unfolds, that perspective gradually shifts toward her. Laura Samani explained that she was also interested in exploring masculine fragility, suggesting that while society has focused on empowering women in recent years, young men are sometimes left without clear emotional references. By the end of the film, she hopes audiences will understand everyone’s motivations — even if Fred ultimately emerges as the one who sees the situation most clearly.

Set in 2007, the film captures a moment just before social media reshaped teenage life and when Europe still seemed full of promise with the expansion of the Schengen Area. Bringing “A Year of School” to London as part of Cinema Made in Italy also offers Laura Samani a chance to see how the story resonates beyond Italy. While she believes the struggles of adolescence are universal, she suggested that audiences here might approach the film differently, noting that in Italy people can sometimes be more “provincial” or tied to tradition. She is therefore curious to see whether British audiences might respond with a slightly more open-minded perspective to the film’s exploration of youth, desire and identity.

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