“We wanted to shed light on the stories of these real women”: The cast and creatives on The Good Mothers at Berlin Film Festival 2023

Premiering at Berlin Film Festival 2023 in the series strand – and clinching the festival’s inaugural series award for best TV drama no less – was new Italian-language crime saga The Good Mothers. Set to land on Disney+ in the UK from 5^th April 2023, the six-part show charts the little-known story of a female prosecutor who helped the women in the Calabrian mafia family (the infamously brutal Ndrangheta Syndicate) to bring down the criminals in their midst, as captured in the book by Alex Perry. While initially conceived to be shot in English, the creators were determined that the UK-Italian production remain as authentic as possible through extensive research and casting, and to show such stories through a new lens that resists the glorification of misogyny and violence oft displayed in true-crime dramatisations.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of speaking to the cast and creatives behind the series during the 2023 Berlinale. Lead cast members Micaela Ramazzotti, Simona Distefano, Valentina Bellè and Gaia Girace, who play Lea Garofalo, Concetta Cacciola, Giuseppina Pesce and Denise Cosco, respectively, told us about what drew them to the project and the importance of giving voice to these courageous women’s stories.

Screenwriter Stephen Butchard and directors Elisa Amoruso and Julian Jarrold shared why they wanted to bring the true-life story to screen and how they worked with their incredible cast to create multi-layered characters.

Sarah Bradbury

The Good Mothers is released on Disney+ on 5^th April 2023.

Read more reviews from our Berlin Film Festival 2023 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Berlin Film Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for The Good Mothers here: