Silvio Soldini was born in Milano. A 21, he transferred to New York to study film at New York University. He returned to Italy and, in 1990, made his first feature film L'aria serena dell'ovest. He won the David di Donatello and Nastro d’argento per Best Director and Best Screenplay for Pane e tulipani and the Nastro d’argento for Best Documentary for Per altri occhi.

Regarding his film, Soldini says: "The initial idea was to take this character who lives in the upper floors of the city - from Camilla's home and office you can dominate the city, you can see the roofs below - and then take her to the lower floors, on the streets, on the subway, in cellar, even in the cellar of herself, where she goes and withdraws things from the past because she has to solve a problem that is also increasingly important to her, towards which she is relentless."