Benjamino Barrese has spent most of his life capturing his mother on video, despite her protests. Iconic model, activist, and journalist Bendetta Barzini has spent so much of her life wanting to leave the spotlight behind, so this documentary would never have been made without her family. The Disappearance of My Mother opens in select theaters in Los Angeles on December 13, 2019.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Benedetta Barzini wants to disappear. An iconic fashion model in the 1960s, she became a muse to Warhol, Dali, Penn and Avedon. As a radical feminist in the 1970s, she fought for the rights and emancipation of women. But at the age of 75, she is fed up with all the roles that life has imposed upon her and decides to leave everything and everybody behind, to disappear to a place as far as possible from the gaze of the camera. Only her son Beniamino is permitted to witness her journey. Having filmed her since he was a child in spite of all her resistance, he now wants to make a film about her, to keep her close for as long as possible — or, at least, as long as his camera keeps running. The making of the film turns into a battle between mother and son, a stubborn fight to capture the ultimate image of Benedetta — that of her liberation.
