Leading figure in Italian auteur cinema, Alice Rohrwacher studied Literature and Philosophy at the University of Turin. In 2011, she wrote and directed her first fiction feature film Corpo Celeste, a realistic drama about a young girl’s catholic education, which screened at the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival, and was awarded the Nastro d'Argento Prize.


In 2014, her second feature film The Wonders was presented at the Official  Competition in Cannes, and is a partially autobiographical work, evoking Rohrwacher’s childhood. The film won the Grand Jury Prize, establishing her as a major director within the new generation of trans-Alpine filmmakers.


Her latest film, Happy as Lazzaro (2018), has been internationally acclaimed by both the critic and the public and has also premiered in Cannes’ Competition, where it won an award for Best Screenplay. 


An admirer of Buñuel and Rossellini, Rohrwacher states in an interview about her vision of cinema that “You have to imagine a world, and then compare the world you imagine with the world outside” because “If you want to be free with your imagination,you need to be very realistic” (Jonathan Romney, 2019).