Migrant Stories in Italian Cinema
Screening series
October 5-8, 2023
FACETS Chicago
1517 W Fullerton Ave, Chicago IL
The Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago in collaboration with FACETS, presents a selection of Italian movies that explore issues of migration and identity through the cinematic medium. The selected movies provide an overview of film production on these topics in the past decade, spanning from documentaries to drama, representing how public discourses on immigration and its representation have changed over time.
La giusta distanza (The Right Distance)
Directed by Carlo Mazzacurati
Sunday, October 8 at 5:00pm
2007, 106’, Italian with English subtitles
Drama | Italy
Tickets
In a remote part of Italy at the mouth of the Po, there is a small town: a few isolated houses that a crane seems to have incongruously laid on that flat and desolate landscape. In this evanescent scenario Hassan and Mara meet. He is a Tunisian mechanic, with years of honest and hard work, who has gained esteem and respect. She is a young substitute teacher, waiting to leave for Brazil with an exchange program. Giovanni, an eighteen-year-old aspiring journalist, spends a lot of time fixing an old motorcycle in Hassan’s workshop and is something more than a witness to the story that unfolds between them. A story that begins under the sign of restlessness, with Hassan spying on Mara at night in the isolated house where she has taken shelter. After driving him away, she starts a relationship with him. But Hassan isn’t the only one attracted to Mara. Giovanni, is in fact also a spy: thanks to his technological skill, he accesses Mara’s e-mail and reads the messages she writes and receives. And in the face of the tragic and unexpected turn that the story takes, even Giovanni will turn his back on Hassan. But life is more twisted and painful than it appears.
Tickets
$7 single feature
$10 day pass
$25 series pass
Screenings Schedule
Thursday, October 5 at 7:00pm CT
The Jungle
Directed by Cristian Natoli
2021, 75’, Italian with English subtitles
Documentary | Italy, Croatia
Friday, October 6 at 7:00pm CT
Princess
Directed by Roberto De Paolis
2022, 108’, Italian, Pidgin English, English with English subtitles
Drama | Italy
Saturday, October 7 at 1:00pm CT
Fiore Gemello (Twin Flower)
Directed by Laura Luchetti
2018, 95’, Italian with English subtitles
Drama | Italy
Saturday, October 7 at 3:00pm CT
Trieste è bella di notte (Trieste Shines at Night)
Directed by Andrea Segre, Stefano Collizzolli, Matteo Calore
2023, 75’, Italian with English subtitles
Documentary | Italy
Sunday, October 8 at 3:00pm CT
Bangla
Directed by Phaim Bhuiyan
2019, 84’, Italian with English subtitles
Comedy | Italy
Sunday, October 8 at 5:00pm
La giusta distanza (The Right Distance)
Directed by Carlo Mazzacurati
2007, 106’, Italian with English subtitles
Drama | Italy
This program is part of Chi Siamo: (Re)presenting Italian Culture, the theme selected for 2023 by the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago. This year-long series will explore the topics of representation and inclusion in Italian arts, with a specific focus on cross-cultural contamination in contemporary and modern Italy.