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 on 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 despite 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 a subject who’s done being subjected to anyone else’s gaze.
The Disappearance of My Mother
The Disappearance of My Mother
Q&A with filmmaker and JBFC Artist in Residence Beniamino Barrese
Tickets: $13 (members), $18 (nonmembers), $13 (students)
"The film reveals its truest self as a cinematic act of negotiation, acceptance and farewell between mother and son."
"[An] affectionate, often uncomfortably intimate feature-length debut... [Barrese's] obsession and [Barzini's] resistance intertwine, sometimes gently, sometimes explosively. This is a tumultuous muse story in which the artist and his inspiration just happen to be blood relations."
SPECIAL EVENTS
Q&A with filmmaker and JBFC Artist in Residence Beniamino Barrese
Monday, Oct. 12 2026, 7:00
- Beniamino Barrese is a filmmaker, photographer, writer, and researcher based in Milan, Italy. He studied Political Philosophy at the University of Milan, Cinematography at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, UK, and International Political Economy at King’s College London. Since 2011, he has worked internationally as a director and cinematographer across documentaries, fiction, commercials, music videos, and art projects. His directorial debut, The Disappearance of My Mother (2019), premiered at Sundance, was theatrically released in the US, UK, Germany, and Italy, and was nominated for Best Documentary at the European Film Awards, winning the Cinema Eye Honors Award for Best Debut Feature. His cinematography credits include Gianluca Matarrese’s Gen_ (2025), premiered at Sundance, and David Cronenberg’s experimental short Four Unloved Women, Adrift on a Purposeless Sea, Experience the Ecstasy of Dissection (2023), presented at Fondazione Prada and later screened at the New York Film Festival. Since 2023, he has taught Storytelling at NABA in Milan and, in 2026, taught “Reframing Heritage: Cinema and Museum” at WRTH – The Royal Institute of Traditional Arts in Riyadh. His teaching and research draw on an interdisciplinary background spanning cinema, philosophy, photography, economics, and politics. He is currently developing The Calling, presented at CPH Forum in March 2026, and collaborating with Andrea Pallaoro on the writing of his next fiction film, Agostino, adapted from Alberto Moravia’s novel.
Tickets: $13 (members), $18 (nonmembers)
This film is part of the following initiatives:
This film is part of the Docs Without Borders series.
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