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.
The Jungle
Directed by Cristian Natoli
Thursday, October 5 at 7:00pm CT
2021, 75’, Italian with English subtitles
Documentary | Italy, Croatia
Tickets
Elisa Menon, a 37-year old theater director and actress lives in Gorizia, a small provincial town in northern Italy. Having worked for years locally, she is invited to join a theater company in Berlin. She is just about to leave for Germany, when Hassan Zeidi, a 26-year-old Pakistani cultural mediator, contacts her and asks her to organize a theatrical workshop for some friends of his, asylum-seeking boys and young men who frequent the Jungle, part of the woodlands bordering the banks of the Isonzo, the river running through the city. Elisa is hesitant at first but accepts, mentally reserving the option to leave if called to work in Berlin. The workshop induces her to reflect on the intrinsic meaning of departure while it also provides the young migrants, hovering on the margins of city life, with the chance to confront themselves with the local residents by means of a theatrical performance staged in the Jungle itself.
The screening will be followed by a conversation with movie director Cristian Natoli and a cocktail reception offered by the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago.
Cristian Natoli was born in Gorizia (1981). Since 2004 he has worked in film productions and television, working with some of the major Italian production firms. In the meantime, he began producing music videos and short films. Since 2010 he is author and director of several award-winning documentaries, including Attores and Allamhatar, dedicated to the theme of borders, Per Mano Ignota (nominated for David di Donatello and finalist at the Golden Door Film Festival) and Figli di Maria (hiring on Rai Storia). In 2016 he was unit director for docu-reality Chiedi a Papà , produced by Indigo Film, on air on Rai3. In 2017 Cristian founded together with Chiara Toffolo the production company Tesla Production, for which he wrote and directed two branded content short films for Coop Italia. His latest documentary, La Fiaba Perduta, was awarded at the International Tour Film Festival, and is now hiring on Rai3.
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.