The Birth of the Leopard

Story

DOCUMENTARY How a great love became a masterpiece of European literature: the fascinating story of how the novel »The Leopard« came to be written. When Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa died in 1957, he was penniless. One year later, his only novel The Leopard was published and became an overnight success. Luchino Visconti’s eponymous film won the Palme D‘Or at Cannes in 1963. The story of how the book came to be written is largely unknown. It’s based on the relationship between the writer and his Baltic German wife and how they lost almost everything against the background of the massive upheavals in Europe and who nonetheless managed to reinvent themselves.

Director

LUIGI FALORNI (*1971) was nominated for an Oscar in 2005 for The Story of the Weeping Camel, his graduation film from the HFF film school in Munich. His debut feature Heart of Fire was shown in competition at the Berlinale in 2008.