Mangia i finocchi, Italia, 2026

Giorgia is thirteen. She swims every day at the local public pool and moves through the world with the innocence of someone suspended between childhood and adolescence. One day, while listening to her teammates talk, she realizes she is the only one who still doesn’t have breasts. From that moment on, what was once an invisible detail becomes an obsession: Giorgia searches for solutions everywhere - in her grandmother’s advice, in absurd online articles and even in fennel secretly eaten in the hope it will speed up her growth. Through constant comparison with other girls, she observes bodies unlike her own, feeling confused yet fascinated. It will be her grandmother, gently revealing her own scar and the absence of a breast, who offers Giorgia a new perspective: growing up is not about chasing what is missing, but learning to recognize who we are.

The film was born from the desire to portray a fragile and universal moment: the instant a girl realizes her body is changing. Through Giorgia and her clumsy rituals to make her breasts grow, Matilde aims to gently explore the first insecurities tied to the way a young woman perceives herself. She has experienced that same pressure of comparison, and today she is aware of how much stronger it can be for girls exposed to the beauty standards imposed by society and media. This film seeks to shift that perspective, revealing the diversity of bodies as something precious rather than lacking.

With an intimate yet ironic tone, set in the early 2000s and immersed in the blue of a public swimming pool, Eat the Fennel tells the story of a young girl quietly learning to inhabit her own body

Director

Matilde Santantonio

Story

Matilde Santantonio

Screenplay

Matilde Santantonio

Director of photography

Francesco Galaverni

Set Design

Ludovica Spacca

Costume Design

Rosa Rossitti