Filmography
- Berlin Alexanderplatz (2020) by Burhan Qurbani. A modern transposition of Doblin’s homonymous novel. An African migrant arrived in Berlin faces the difficulties of entering Europe without a work permit and tries to blend in with Western society. This movie is about migrants’ efforts to integrate upon reaching their host country and their psychological struggle, between a fear of rejection and a desire for acceptance.
- Lingua Franca (2019) by Isabel Sandoval. The movie is about a Filipina trans woman who arrives in the United States as an undocumented immigrant and tries to get a green card through a marriage of convenience. The fear of losing one’s own identity, the love for the homeland and the desperate attempt to get accepted into the new society are the central topics. Furthermore, the threat of deportation out of the U.S. due to the recent restrictive policies is impending throughout the movie.
- The Climate Limbo (2019) by Paolo Caselli e Francesco Ferri. A documentary that points out the still unknown figure of climate refugees, whose position is not yet recognized by the international asylum legislation. They live in a limbo due to this lack of rules, which prevents them from benefitting the status of protection granted to other refugees. Not only direct witnesses, but also interviews to climate researchers and Italian farmers and breeders whose work is strongly affected by climate change.
- Island of the Hungry Ghosts (2018) by Gabrielle Brady. A hybrid documentary filmed on the Australian territory of Christmas Island. The plot is based on the parallel between the natural migration of a protected species of crabs, which are helped by ecologists to complete their traveling, and the chaotic and tragic migration of asylum seeker humans, confined in a high-security detention center on the island without any possibility of integrating with the locals. It shows the hypocrisy of a society led by environment friendly principles but ruthless to people with no visa.
- The Age of Consequences (2016) by Jared P. Scott. The effects of climate change on human migration and political instability are highlighted through discussions and interviews. Food shortage, drought, flooding induced by climate change lead to social conflicts and violence. Not only migration then, but also social disorders and political upheavals.
- I ricordi del fiume (2015) by Gianluca e Massimiliano De Serio. A documentary of the Platz, one of the biggest European shanty towns, located on the North suburbs of Turin. Before its dismantling, it used to accommodate more than a thousand people of different ethnicities, rom mainly. This film retraces some of those lives and that kind of community life which never became integrated but rather recreated a parallel society.
- Fuori campo. Storie di rom nell’Italia di oggi (2015) by Sergio Panariello. The condition of rom people is usually associated with precariousness, lack of integration and nomad camps. This documentary shows another truth, that of rom people living like normal Italians, in standard houses and facing ordinary problems. So to reveal how prejudices and stereotypes are often the greatest obstacle to human acceptance.
- Italy Amore Mio (2013) by Ettore Pasculli. The life of a Romanian girl living in Italy is the occasion to point out the difficulties of second-generation Italian citizens, split between habits and constrictions of their own ethnicity and those of the country they try to get accepted into. Her desire for redemption and self-affirmation guides her through her precarious condition to reach a better self-awareness.
- The Island President (2012) by Jon Shenk. The Maldives Islands are particularly vulnerable to climate change. The former president Mohamed Nasheed approved democratic reforms that tried to protect the islands and prevent their inhabitants from becoming climate refugees.
- Climate Refugees (2010) by Michael P. Nash. A documentary covering the consequences of climate change on humankind, with an eye on national security implications. It collects interviews with politicians and scientists, such as Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Al Gore.
- Centurion (2010) by Neil Mashall. The story shows the relationship between Roman conquerors and the native populations of the provinces, rarely pacific and often terminating in massacres. The story is based on the famous disappearance of the Roman Ninth Legion in Britannia, documented by historiography from the 2nd century A.D. In Britannia some Roman soldiers are fighting against the Celtic group of the Picts. Only their commander, Centurion, survives the battle and joins the Roman Ninth Legion which has been sent to avenge the defeat. The fight ends up with the slaughter of the whole Roman legion in the wilderness of North of Britain.
- The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) by Anthony Mann. The movie shows how skilled the Roman Emperors were to manage the remote provinces and how fundamental such ability was to preserve the imperial power. The story begins with Marcus Aurelius fighting the Germanic tribes on the North frontiers. The emperor allows foreign former slaves to gain a higher social status and on many occasions this opportunity proves to be of crucial importance for the survival of the Empire. This is confirmed by the Greek ex-slave Timonides who, Emperor’s deputy, spends his life showing his loyalty to Rome by helping the stern general Gaius Livius to neutralize Commodus’ wicked behavior. Unlike Commodus’ brutal methods, Gaius Livius adopts the policy of captives’ integration and employs them as farmers, promoting cooperation for the Empire’s benefit. Commodus eventually triumphs, but his craziness will lead to the fall of the Roman Empire.
- Spartacus (1960) by Stanley Kubrick. During the I cent A.D. a Thracian becomes a slave under the name of Spartacus. A roman businessman turns him into a gladiator, whom will lead a group of rebellious slaves to escape from Rome. The group grows bigger and resists Roman soldiers sent to pursue, until Crassus and his legion surround them. The story retraces the destiny of many migrants under the Roman Empire, captured and turned into slaves without any possibility to regain their freedom.
- Ben-Hur (1959) by William Wyler. During the I cent A.D., Jerusalem is ruled by Jewish prince Judah Ben-Hur who lives wealthy and in harmony with his mother and sister. The arrival of Roman Governor of Judea Valerius Gratus and of Messala, commander of the Fortress of Antonia, will doom Ben-Hur’s family to lose her peace. Roman dominion grows stronger and Ben-Hur is turned into slavery while his family is scattered. He will enter the graces of a Roman Consul, combat in a quadriga race and regain his role finding again his family.
