Premiering at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival was director Sergio Castellitto‘s Twice Born.  Based on the novel of the same name by Margaret Mazzantini, the film stars Penelope Cruz as a single mother who returns with her teen son to present-day Sarajevo where her son’s father (Emile Hirsch) died during the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s.  As she tries to repair the relationship with her son, new revelations force her to rethink everything.  The film also stars Mira Fulran and Jane Birkin and you can watch the first trailer here.

Before the world premiere, I landed an extended video interview with Castellitto.  We talked about premiering at TIFF, the challenges of making Twice Born, the use of melodrama and how he approaches film as an actor even when he’s directing, why he shot on the ARRI ALEXA, the rehearsal process, and a lot more.  In addition, Castellitto revealed his first cut was four and a half hours (the final release is a little over two hours), and how he hopes to eventually show his longer version.  Hit the jump to watch.

The first trailer for the drama Twice Born (aka Venuto al Mondo) has been released.  Based on the novel of the same name by Margaret Mazzantini, the film stars Penelope Cruz as a single mother who returns with her teen son to present-day Sarajevo where her son’s father (Emile Hirsch) died during the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s.  That plot isn’t exactly spelled out for us in this trailer, but damn does this movie look beautiful.  Writer/director Sergio Castellitto appears to have put together one hell of an emotional film with some hauntingly gorgeous visuals.  It’s tough to judge the performances from this dialogue-less trailer, but Twice Born is certainly one to keep on your radar.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Mira Fulran and Jane Birkin.  Twice Born will premiere at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival, which runs from September 6 – 16th.