S.B.: Io lo conoscevo bene

Narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi - star of the landmark television series "I, Claudius" - this documentary explores art and culture around the Bay of Naples before Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. The bay was then the most fashionable destination for vacationing Romans. Julius Caesar, emperors, and senators were among those who owned sumptuous villas along its shores. Artists flocked to the region to create frescoes, sculpture, and luxurious objects in gold, silver, and glass for villa owners as well as residents of Pompeii and other towns in the shadow of Vesuvius. The film concludes with the story of the discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum from the 18th century onward.

Traces the struggle to unify Italy from Napoleon's invasion in 1805 to the Plebiscite of Rome in 1870. Uses authentic costumes against historic locales.

A post millennial journey to Italy before the coronavirus outbreak. While encountering various faces of the contemporary Italian decline, the trip turns into an existential experience arising doubts within a group of ambitious filmmakers, moved by the nostalgia of the humble life that they abandoned to follow their dreams.

Erinnerungen an Lucio Fulci

Feeling unfair about the power's portrayal of all its opponents, at the dawn of the '68 protests a young man decided to become a photographer to set things right. "Taking a good picture is a great act of faith". Tano D'Amico thus began a journey that would lead him to be at the forefront of the social battles of the 1970s: the birth of new movements, "the appearance on the threshold of history of a people who had never entered history", the hopes, illusions and betrayals. Tano still continues to photograph workers, the homeless, migrants, the last people and all those who take protest to the streets.

After the World War I, Mussolini's perspective on life is severely altered; once a willful socialist reformer, now obsessed with the idea of power, he founds the National Fascist Party in 1921 and assumes political power in 1922, becoming the Duce, dictator of Italy. His success encourages Hitler to take power in Germany in 1933, opening the dark road to World War II. (Originally released as a two-part miniseries. Includes colorized archival footage.)

Libere

The four brothers Peter, Uwe, Manni and Günter live together in the German town of Dernbach and run what is probably the most chaotic car recycling business in Germany. Nothing is the same here as in other junkyards. Over four million spare parts lie in huge piles in the brothers' warehouse. Nevertheless, they manage to find just the right spare part time and time again and get a car back into shape.

Nasim is a free climber, the only woman able to open new routes in Iran. She’s facing a double mountain to climb, both physical and cultural, as her passion collides with the strict policies concerning women freedom in her country. And she has a dream: open a new route in the Alps.

It's a condition known as "hypertrichosis" or "Ambras Syndrome," but in the 1500s it would transform one man into a national sensation and iconic fairy-tale character. His name: Petrus Gonsalvus, more commonly known today as the hairy hero of Beauty and the Beast.

A documentary that uncovers the careers of a population of entertainers never heard from before: Black actors in Italian cinema. With modern day interviews and archival footage, the documentary discloses the personal struggles and triumphs that classic Afro-Italian, African-American and Afro-descendant actors faced in the Italian film industry, while mirroring their struggles with those of contemporary actors who are working diligently to find respectable, significant, and non-stereotypical roles, but are often unable to do so. Blaxploitalian is more than an unveiling of a troubled history; it is a call-to-action for increased diversity in international cinema through the stories of these artists in an effort to reflect the modern and racially diverse Italy.

The film follows Vincent Schiavelli as he returns to Polizzi Generosa, the very town in Sicily his grandparents emigrated from in 1901.

Mirage à l'italienne

A powerful depiction of war in infamous global conflict zones. Directed by Oscar/Emmy documentary makers Buddy Squires and Graeme Scott (know for Sam Smith), this film provides a rare and powerful insight into humanity and hope in the depth of war and the greatest global humanitarian crisis of the last several decades.

Wie ein Fluss. The Ska faces

Four stories set between the 60s and the 70s in Italy. Four personal female adventures crossing the path of Italian history, the struggle for women rights, the liberation of the body, in a country without memory.

Vita Dolce

David Griecos documentary showcases the underappreciated photography of Domenico Notarangelo, and through it, tells the story of Matera, it's people and it's history.

In Made in Italy, the young filmmaker Fabio Wuytack discovers an old film which was shot more than 100 years ago in Carrara, Italy, by the inventors of cinema, the Lumière brothers. Fabio decides to bring the film back to the charming little marble city where even Michelangelo came to select marble for his sculptures. With the help of a sinister cinema owner, some rough mineworkers, an enthusiast old priest and other fascinating characters, he tries to find the mythical location where the Lumière brothers filmed. The result is an Italian journey full of commedia del'arte that brings Fabio closer to his roots than he could ever have imagined

Siddharta and Fabrizio, one of them nine years old, the other one 65, are the core of a community that renounces every civilising comfort. We are their guests – for one summer.