Just over a year ago NOWNESS premiered a taster of Italian director Carlo Lavagna’s first feature film, Arianna, named after its intersex teenage subject. With approximately one child per 3,000 born intersexual, meaning they have both male and female sexual characteristics, it is common for parents to choose the child’s gender at an early age (as Arianna’s parents do) and opt for surgical alterations (some minor, some major) in order to raise them with a single-gender identity. Here, with the film's release, Lavagna talks about his own enduring childhood dreams and why this ‘outsider’ story is really a universal tale.  

How did you first become interested in the stories of intersex people?
Carlo Lavagna: It first came from a very personal place. When I was a little boy I often dreamed I was a woman. Waking up from these dreams, I experienced a deep sense of unease about my identity. It was as if the classical ontological question about our place in this world and our identity – a question that everyone asks themselves sooner or later – took on an erotic aspect in me. This sowed the seed that eventually became Arianna.

Is the film based on a specific person’s story?
CL: No, the story is completely fictional. Though I have met a lot of activists and even started to shoot a documentary on the subject in the US in 2003. In the end I realised that making a feature film might have more impact, so I decided to return to Italy and shoot the film in the region where I used to spend summers when I was a little boy. In the film Arianna’s parents are very loving and open-minded, yet they still decide on surgery for their child – a decision made out of love and concern for her future. 

How does this balance with them taking her choice away?
CL: We never wanted the parents to be a scapegoat for the public. If we want to point fingers we need to look at attitudes in society in general towards ‘abnormal����� people. Despite the apparent openness of modern societies, normalizing efforts are still very strong. Cosmetic surgery on intersex people is only one example of this drive.  

There has been a lot of discussion recently about LGBT rights – from gay marriage to transgender visibility – do you think people are more willing to accept a character like Arianna than they would have been a decade ago? 
CL: Yes I think people today are much more open than they were ten or fifteen years ago, and I hope that a film like Arianna can ultimately be seen not only as an LGBT story, but as a film that appeals to a universal audience: questioning your identity is a human experience, so is feeling like an outsider.  

You have been very clear that you support efforts to ensure intersex children are not operated on. Why is this?
CL: In my opinion every decision that concerns one’s identity should be left to the person. There are cases of intersex children where surgery is necessary to avoid further problems (mostly related to cancer risks) but this is not the case when it is cosmetic; done to make a person look like someone he/she is not. We received the endorsement of ILGA (The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association), which is a great honor for us.   The group therapy leader in the film says sexual identification is “borrowed, not born from within”. Can you say a bit more about what she means? It is often easier for people to replicate what they see around them and follow the example of who came before them. Parents are obviously the example par excellence, but this is true for every social group that aims to survive by transferring its knowledge to younger generations. Sex is part of this knowledge. 

Arianna will be screened as part of the BFI London Film Festival on October 11 at Curzon Mayfair and 12 October at Hackney Picturehouse.

Ananda Pellerin is an editor and writer based in London. 

Watch 'The Young Ones: Teenage Intersexuality' on the NOWNESS App via the App Store or Google Play