31/07/2025
Arsa marks Gala Zohar Martinucci’s first leading role on-screen. The film weaves together themes of escapism and grief with a coming-of-age undertone. Portraying a girl living alone on an Italian island, mourning her father whilst collecting debris washed up on the shore to create art, Gala’s presence is hard to ignore.
“Arsa lives on the edge of the world and in herself. To inhabit her, I stripped away layers of noise: digital distractions, social routines, expectations. I spent time alone on the island before shooting, listening to the sea, watching the wind move through dry grass,” reflects the Italian actor on the process of unravelling the layers of her character. “Her grief is wordless, her rebellion quiet. I had to learn to speak without words, to feel deeply and show little. It was both liberating and disorienting.”
Despite the clear solitude, she was quick to pinpoint the nuance that her role was far from lonely. “I think the key was understanding that solitude, for Arsa, isn’t a punishment – it’s a form of resistance, of healing. I focused on how she interacts with the island, the textures around her, the animals and the ruins. Her relationships are with what remains. That intimacy with the landscape gives her a quiet strength. She doesn’t seek pity, she seeks peace”.
Read the full interview in the Summer issue of GLASS - out now!
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