Successful debut as a movie director for Valeria Golino, who will arrive in New York  on March 7th, for the premiere of her feature film “Honey (Miele)” at the Elinor Bulim Munroe Film Center at Lincoln Center [2].

Based on Mario Covachic’s novel, A Nome Tuo, “Honey” tells the story of Irene, a 30 year old woman who decided, under the pseudonym Honey, to help terminally-ill people die with dignity by giving them a drug she gets during her trips to Mexico. One day, she supplies the fatal substance to a “new client,” a 60 year old healthy woman who just thought she had lived enough and wanted to die. Such encounter will call into question all of Irene’s beliefs, whom, from that point on, will become involved in an intense and moving relationship that will change her life forever.

Valeria Golino’s “Honey” brings to the surface the delicate debate on Euthanasia, a practice that in Italy is considered illegal. However, during several interviews, Director Golino explained that her intention wasn’t to question whether assisted suicide is right or wrong. Instead, she wanted to recount the drama and the pain that people go through when they ask others to help them die.
A 96 minutes of film during which the spectators will ask themselves how to face death. 
In other words, Golino invites us to be aware of the existence of many tragic situations that are considered social taboos that we often ignore or want to avoid.

Valeria Golino's debut feature stars Jasmine Trinca (The Son's Room, The Best of Youth) as well as an Italian stage actor Carlo Cecchi. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival [3] in Un Certain Regard where it received a special mention from the Ecumenical Jury. It also screened at the Venice Film Festival [4]. It is the 2nd film in the Cinema Made In Italy Series (following Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Great Beauty”), a program that provides marketing and distribution support to 5 Italian films in the US created by the Instituto Luce-Cinecittà [5], the Italian Trade Commission [6] and Emerging Pictures [7].