Marta Savina was browsing through a bookstore in Florence, Italy, when she came across the story of Franca Viola. The UCLA directing alumna picked up a book about women who changed history – a subject that already interested her – and randomly opened it to the story of Viola, a Sicilian woman who was the first Italian woman to refuse what was called a “reparatory marriage” to her rapist, even though such marriages often took place in 20th-century Italy. Read more...

Photo: UCLA alumna Marta Savina directed a film based on the true story of Franca Viola, an Italian woman who refused to marry her rapist. She learned about Viola’s story in a bookstore in Florence, Italy. (Miriam Bribiesca/Photo editor)