Apocalypsever - Franco Maresco

Chronicles of a male homosexual drug addict in 1980's in voice-over with long take scenes from Rome, television snippets of news of Gulf War and commercials.

The pandemic has many faces. It has affected everyone across the world, but each of us in a different way. A collection of individual fates observed in fine detail. And a filmic world tour that looks down on places of residence from above and yet gets very close to the people.

Oh how nice is Panama. However, it may be even nicer in Sweden. At least in winter 2020/21, when a small virus called SARS-CoV2 paralyzed the continent of Europe in particular. While in most countries the fight against the virus was announced with a wide variety of measures such as lockdown, compulsory masks and contact restrictions, which were also punishable by law, Sweden went a different way.

Hungary was the site of serial murders on ethnic basis. Over the course of one year, the murderers killed and seriously injured Roma children and adults. The state charged 4 men with committing the crime with racial motivation. This historical trial started March, 2011, and ended August, 2013 in Budapest. The 167 days of hearings was only documented continuously by our crew. We had exclusive permission to use multiple cameras in the court-room. The film is a classical chamber-drama, taking place in a small, claustrophobic court room, in the middle of Europe. What will be the outcome of the marathon, 3 year-long trial?

A young student heads back to his village during the COVID-19 lockdown to collect ethnographic material for his thesis, but as quarantine stretches on, the rituals and everyday scenes he records start bringing back childhood memories-leading him to piece the footage together into something more personal.

A tribute not so much to the river that runs through the Eternal City, but to that part of Rome that very often remains invisible to the eyes of tourists-the suburbs, with their streets and rituals.

The Colosseum: the jewel of Ancient Rome. It wowed vast crowds with extraordinary battles. It pushed the boundaries of technology. It exhibited Rome’s vast wealth and power. Roman leaders spread the Colosseum’s design throughout the Empire, and it helped them conquer the ancient world. But just as the structure embodied Rome’s power, so too did it contribute to the Empire’s downfall.

Beyrouth, spring 2020. Is the uprising in Lebanon merely on hold?

A musical, and also a reflection on watching, on trying to escape an anthropocentric gaze and also on watching itself in cinema. Featuring mares and horses: Triana, Víctor K, Bambi Sailor, San Special Solano, Buck Red Skin, Onkaia, Cool Boy, the donkey Agostino, the mule Guapa. And also Alfredo Lagos, Raül Refree, María Marín, Pepe Habichuela, Virgina García del Pino, María García Ruiz, Pilar Monsell, María Pérez Sanz.

The story of Italian cinema under Fascism, a sophisticated film industry built around the founding of the Cinecittà studios and the successful birth of a domestic star system, populated by very peculiar artists among whom stood out several beautiful, magnetic, special actresses; a dark story of war, drugs, sex, censorship and tragedy.

From the legendary times of Romulus and Remus to the present day, the compelling story of the eternal city's twenty-five centuries of civilization traces the rise of Christianity over paganism through studies of Vatican art treasures.

A groundbreaking film that chronicles how a cabal of mega-corporations worked through the United Nations to hijack our world, all while being aided by the mainstream media and Big Tech.

Expert interviews, dramatic reconstructions and location shooting bring to life the iconic legend of Egyptian Queen Cleopatra in this historical documentary.

What did it mean to live in a perpetual siege, coupled with total communication blockade on top of a triple lockdown for the women of Kashmir. This hybrid documentary will try to delve into these questions exploring how the idea of life/living, time and space completely transformed for Kashmir post Article 370 abrogation.

The animated short film tells the moving story of the resistance and bravery of Alfreda Noncia Markowska, a young Roma woman from Poland who saved the lives of around fifty children and young adults during the Second World War.

How does the UK function under the shadow of the coronavirus? This documentary, shot over 24 hours, touches on the funny and the poignant, and gauges the impact of CV19 on the country.

On the morning of 10 March 2020 all Italians woke up in quarantine. Io Resto a Casa ("I Stay Home") depicts the filmmaker's first 14 days of the Italian lockdown, without ever leaving the house, made entirely on the web through the stories of five Youtubers and dozens of videos and photographs made and shared all over Italy. Fourteen days of fears, hopes, enthusiasm, boredom, normality and extraordinariness. Fourteen days that we will always remember.

The film starts with a long, static shot of the sun rising above the hills near the Roma village of Hetea in Romania. We only hear the sounds of birds, including a cuckoo. In the distance, a satellite dish figures on a roof. Slowly, the daily routine begins. We see more and more activity, like the harnessing of a horse to a cart, loading stripped tree trunks, collecting water from a pipe, playing soccer and a girl getting punished with a severe slap on her arm. These scenes are mostly captured from a distance. Then, towards noon, the fat is in the fire. The camera looks for the villagers who argue with each other and registers how an old man paces up and down the street. Because the images have not been subtitled (intentionally), the meaning of the quarrel remains unclear. The film does not mention any names or other facts, either. The absence of this context makes this documentary into a picturesque impression.

Emerging artists seek to stay afloat in their industry whilst the Covid pandemic induces career threatening lockdowns.

This is a film about the strangely idyllic time we had during the first UK lockdown, and the media we consumed.