On the occasion of Black History Month in the US,
the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco
presents
BLACK ITALY FESTIVAL.
The festivalwill open with BLACK ITALIAN SHOWCASE, a series of feature films and shorts celebrating Italian diversity and Italians of African descent, created by Do The Right Films and curated by producer-director Fred Kudjo Kuwornu. It is the first celebration of Afro-Italian talent in film, showcasing new features and shorts while illuminating the historical, social, and cultural aspects of Black life in Italy, offering the opportunity to see a diverse representation of the country.
Program:
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January 31, 2023 | 6:30 pm @INNOVIT, 710 Sansome St, San Francisco BLAXPLOITALIAN 100 Years of Blackness in Italian Cinema Dir: Fred Kudjo Kuwornu Documentary, Italy, 2016, 61 min English and Italian with English subtitles The film screening is free and open to the public. Registration required. |
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February 15 | 3:30 PM |
March 2 | 6:30 PM
FIVE SHORTS AT THE NEW PARKWAY THEATER
474 24th St, Oakland, CA 94612
Introduction by Dr. Cristina Farronato, Lecturer and Language Program Coordinator, Department of Italian Studies, UC Berkeley
All shorts are subtitled in English
1. LA MIA MILANO by Nadia Ali (24 min)
La Mia Milano is the story of a group of second-generation Italians that have to deal with racism and police brutality.
Nadia Ali is an Italian director and producer of Egyptian descent. She grew up in Milan and moved to the United States in 2011. Her work has a very strong social imprint and is committed to denouncing injustices and discrimination.
2. IDRIS by Kassim Yassin Saleh (13 min)
Idris is a ten-year-old Somalian refugee. On the 15th of August, not only is he in a foreign country, without parents, in a group home inhabited by a group of young misfits, from 5 to 14 years old, but he is also forced to socialize with them and join in their aquatic games in a run-down city pool.
Born in the Republic of Djibouti, between Ethiopia and Somalia, director Kassim Yassin Saleh is an Afro-Italian filmmaker, writer and actor. The 2017 short film Idris, premiered at the 2017 Venice International Film Festival in the special section MigrArti, written with Heidrun Schleef. In 2020 he directed Il vento sotto i piedi and the documentary Mirella.
3. GUESS WHO I’M BRINGING TO DINNER by Amin Nour (13 min)
A young man from Somalia who was raised in Rome is getting ready to meet the parents of his girlfriend, a Russian girl raised in Italy and living in Albano. The story focuses on the hours before the meeting takes place, following the life of our young protagonist, Mohamed, 25 years old.
Amin Nour, Italian-Somali, is a member of the Black Italian Film Collective in Rome. He directed two films on racism, Ambaradan (2017) and Indovina chi ti porto a cena (Guess Who I’m Bringing to Dinner), winner of the 2018 MigrArti award promoted by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage. Amin is also the founder of NIBI, Neri Italiani Black Italian.
4. THE MOOR by Daphne Di Cinto (23 min)
Alessandro de’ Medici is legitimized into the Medici family, one of the most prestigious Italian families of its time. But as the son of an enslaved African woman and Pope Clement VII, he is haunted by the stigma of his low birth and a mother he only barely remembers. When he unexpectedly becomes the first Duke of Florence, Alessandro must come to terms with his roots and is forced to face his father’s inability to accept him, while fending off his cousin’s power-hungry attacks. Based on true events.
Daphne Di Cinto is an Afro-Italian screenwriter, director and actor born in Northern Italy. She started her film and theater studies in Rome, where she focused on acting at Scuola di Cinema, while getting her degree in Communication Science at Roma Tre University. She attended the faculty of cinema at Sorbonne University in Paris before moving to New York for her Masters in Fine Arts at the Actors Studio Drama School.
5. I WILL NOT FORGET YOU by Laila Petrone (12 min)
Still struggling with loss, a caring father and his daughter are moved by the Christmas spirit to connect with their Puerto Rican roots by reaching out to victims of a hurricane.
Laila Petrone is an Italian-Dominican filmmaker. Born in the U.K., she was raised between Rome and Los Angeles. In 2007, she appeared as Pina in Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna. The experience inspired her to pursue a career behind the camera. In the following years, Laila worked as an assistant director and producer. In 2014, Laila’s directorial debut Your Love premiered at Urban World Film Festival in NYC. The short was awarded “Best of Festival” at the Black Women Film Network Summit in Atlanta, and was selected to screen on Aspire TV as part of the ABFF Independent series’ short films program.
Free Admission | Registration required
REGISTER HERE
