Exclusive Trailer for Venice Premiere The Cat Wakes Up and Yawns; Then Love Seeks Meaning in Rome

Premiering as part of Venice’s Giornate degli Autori (aka Venice Days), which takes place September 2 through 12, Federico Francioni and Samuele Sestieri’s Si sveglia e sbadiglia, il gatto; poi l’amore (aka The Cat Wakes Up And Yawns; Then Love) follows three months in the life of an actress searching for meaning in a chaotic Rome. Ahead of its debut, we’re pleased to exclusively premiere the first trailer and poster.

Starring Carlotta Velda Mei, Stefano Andrea Macchi, Alessandro Colombo, Laura Sinceri, Fabrizio Ciavoni, Laura Nardi, Nikolai Selikovsky, and Mauro Santini, the film is described thusly: “Three months in the life of Chiara, an actress nearing forty as she struggles to find her place in a frantic, tourist-filled Rome. Invisible, precarious, and perpetually restless, she drifts from one experience to the next in a desperate search for something that can make her feel truly alive.”

“This film grew out of an unstable and precarious everyday reality: our own. In an increasingly unforgiving Rome, we wanted to give shape to the nightmares, fears, and premonitions that haunt us,” said the directors. “A shared act of exorcism, experienced alongside our lead actress, Carlotta Velda Mei, the electric body of a city in ruins. Carlotta becomes Chiara, a woman on the threshold of forty, forced to adapt in order to survive, humiliated by a world no longer capable of producing meaning. We searched for a crack within the fabric of the present, imagining an adventurous, picaresque film shaped by algorithms, triumphant slogans, and AI-degenerated images.”

They added, “We wanted to make a furious film, one that stood apart from the production logic of contemporary Italian cinema. No pitching forums, no script labs – only sixty-five shooting days spread over a year, a pirate crew, and a cast of friends. We rediscovered the pleasure of telling stories, of making films together, and of sharing our perspective on this historical moment. In our own way, we tried to be free.