A selection of Italian documentaries make their UK Premiere for Italian Doc Fest

Cinecittà is one of the largest film studios in Europe, and a point of reference for the film industry and the audiovisual culture in the continent.

As part of its mission to promote Italian cinema, culture and perspective to an international audience, the inaugural CINECITTÀ ITALIAN DOCS will bring three acclaimed and remarkable documentaries to London’s Bertha DocHouse 24-25 June, all presented as UK premieres and with the filmmakers in attendance to participate in Q&As. These vital new Italian documentaries selected from the international film festival circuit will be presented in partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute in London. The season comprises:

UK Premiere: IL POSTO (A Steady Job)  by Mattia Colombo, Gianluca Matarrese

A nominee at DMZ Docs and Hainan International Film Festival, Il Posto focuses on graduate nurses and healthcare workers in Italy who compete for just a few vacancies in their desperate search for job stability. Filmed largely before, but ultimately impacted by, the coronavirus pandemic, it provides a disturbing overview of the labour market in Italy – a portrait of a tragically broken system. Sat 24 June, 16:00 (75 mins).

UK Premiere: SVEGLIAMI A MEZZANOTTE (Wake Me Up at Midnight)  by Francesco Patierno

A young woman who has recently become a mother decides to take her life by jumping from the top floor of a building. But that suicide attempt was unsuccessful, and today that young woman wants to understand. Based on an autobiographical book by Italian journalist and writer Fuani Marino, Svegliami A Mezzanotte uses intimate reflections alongside images from the Istituto Luce film archive to reconstruct the delicate and painful narrative. Sat 24 June, 18:30 (71 mins).

UK Premiere: BELLA CIAO by Giulia Giapponesi

Dating from the 19th century, the Italian protest song Bella Ciao continues to be sung worldwide as a hymn of freedom and resistance. Today, adaptations of the song may resonate during Turkish opposition or Iraqi protests. It’s even gained new prominence by featuring on the soundtrack of Spanish Netflix hit Money Heist/La Casa De Papel. The documentary film Bella Ciao recounts the mysteries, genesis and history of the song – a patrimony of humanity in the struggle for freedom. Sun 25 June, 15:30 (100 mins).

“The Italian Documentary in all its different creative and productive forms has become one of the most vital and original genres in our country, conquering festivals worldwide with a new generation of auteurs,” says Enrico Bufalini, director of Archivo Luce-Cinecittà. “Cinecittà, the first producer and distributor of Italian documentaries, has the mission of promoting them internationally. The collaboration with the prestigious Bertha DocHouse is a step forward to bring to the British audience a selection representing the diversity and vibrancy of Italian reality cinema. Selecting social and historical documentaries alongside a more intimate account, we are sure to represent a cinema that is at the same time surprising, authorial, and dense with emotions. A new generation of filmmakers has reinterpreted the legacy of the great Italian realism leading it into a more contemporary and visionary dimension. Cinecittà Italian Docs will offer its British audience a new wave of great independent cinema.”

Bertha DocHouse director and programmer Jenny Horwell adds: “We’re excited to collaborate with Cinecittà, and to bring the UK premieres of three such contrasting and compelling works of nonfiction to London.”