Tuesday, July 21, 2026 – First-look image has been released for IDDA, the sophomore narrative feature from rising Italian filmmaker Irene Dionisio (Pawn Street), following today’s announcement of the film’s world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Platform Competition. Starring two of Italy’s top emerging actresses, Tecla Insolia (The Art of Joy) and Romana Maggiora Vergano (There’s Still Tomorrow), the film follows childhood friends Adele and Sofia, now in their thirties, whose lifelong bond is challenged during a journey hiking up the eerie volcanic landscapes of Sicily’s Mount Etna.
Rai Cinema International handles international sales and will present IDDA to buyers at TIFF’s content market, a new addition to the festival launching this year. Initial interest has been strong: the film was already sold for distribution in Bulgaria through Beta Film and to Brazil’s Orta Film at the Cannes Marché du Film in May.
IDDA is in the running for the TIFF Platform Award, the festival’s headline juried competition, which champions bold directorial vision and distinctive storytelling. Starting this year, the award will directly qualify a non-English language winner for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.
Director Irene Dionisio emerged from Italy’s documentary and visual-arts scenes before moving into narrative filmmaking. She received the Solinas Prize, France’s SCAM Prize, and Jury Prize at Tehran’s Cinema Verité for her feature documentary Shores (2015). Dionisio’s first narrative feature, Pawn Street (2017), which premiered at Venice Critics’ Week, was nominated for the David di Donatello & Globo d’Oro awards for Best Debut, winning the Silver Ribbon for Best Screenplay. Her video installations were exhibited internationally, from Venice’s Palazzo Grassi to OCAT Shanghai. Dionisio has also served as the artistic director of Turin’s LGBTQI film festival Lovers for the National Museum of Cinema.
Actress Tecla Insolia, a 2026 Berlinale European Shooting Star, won the David di Donatello award for Best Actress for Valeria Golino’s Cannes-premiered series The Art of Joy. Her credits also include Francesco Costabile’s Venice title Familia, Italy’s submission for the Best International Feature Oscar, and Damiano Michieletto’s Spring. Actress Romana Maggiora Vergano rose to international prominence with Paola Cortellesi’s box office hit There’s Still Tomorrow and has portrayed leading roles in Venice-premiering Francesca Comencini’s The Time It Takes and Paolo Strippoli’s The Holy Boy, as well as Roland Emmerich’s Those About to Die and Marco Bellocchio’s Portobello.
Irene Dionisio co-wrote the film with Marco Borromei, whose credits include Laura Samani’s Small Body. IDDA is produced by Kino Produzioni’s Giovanni Pompili, with Isabella Weber serving as delegate producer, with Rai Cinema, Filippo Montalto and Francesco Montalto of Andromeda Film, Francesco Grisi and Giorgia Priolo of EDI Effetti Digitali Italiani, in collaboration with Antonio Miyakawa of Wise Pictures. Kino Produzioni returns to TIFF after producing Lucía Aleñar Iglesias’ 2025 FIPRESCI Prize winner Forastera, and co-producing the 2024 Platform Award winner, Carlos Marques-Marcet’s They Will Be Dust.
The creative team includes cinematographer Gergely Pohárnok (Taxidermia, L’Immensità,and Valeria Golino’s Euphoria), editor Aline Hervé (Martin Eden), production designer Rachele Meliadò (David di Donatello winner for Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera), costume designer Andrea Cavalletto, and sound designer Riccardo Alfano. The original score was composed by Matteo Marini and Gabriele Concas of The Sweet Life Society with Peter Miyakawa.