WHEN SHE WAS 9, SHE ATTEMPTED TO FLEE HER FIRST COMMUNION IN A PRECOCIOUS EFFORT TO REJECT THE CATHOLIC OPIATE OF THE PEOPLE...

NOW IT'S 1963, AND 15 YEAR-OLD LUCIANA IS ON HER OWN SORT OF SPACE RACE.

As capitalist America and communist Russia compete for ideological pre-eminence through conquest of the heavens, Luciana grows up an Italian female communist, struggling to affirm her identity amidst a bourgeois family, chauvinism, and... oh god.... teenage lust.

The Soviet Union's technological victory with Sputnik 1 launched an incredible propaganda victory, whereupon the Italian daily L'Unita ran the headline "Socialist technology defies the force of gravity".

Director Susanna Nicciarelli creates an ironic short circuit by juxtaposing this public phenomenon on the amplified, convoluted teenage experience.

Comedic, but with grounding drama, Nicchiarelli calls it "the story of an adolescence set against the backdrop of a cultural war between two alternative societies, made up of myths that have disappeared today."

THE ROYAL - Showtimes
Friday March 18 @ 7:00 PM
Friday March 18 @ 9:00 PM
Saturday March 19 @ 4:30 PM
Saturday March 19 @ 7:00 PM
Saturday March 19 @9:00 PM
Sunday March 20 @ 3:30 PM
Sunday March 20 @9:15 PM
Wednesday March 23@ 7:00 PM
Thursday March 24 @ 7:00 PM

Tags: The Royal, Showtimes, Press Release