After the success of the first two events, the XIV edition of «Astradoc - journey into the cinema of reality», a documentary series by Arci Movie at the cinema academy Astra of Naples continues. With the two screenings scheduled for Friday, February 23, 2024, we explore American society, between dreams of democracy and great contradictions, in the year of the presidential elections and in the midst of the primaries that will have their climax in the super Tuesday at the beginning of March.
The journey starts at 7 pm with «Stonebreakers» (USA/Italy, 2022, 70') by Valerio Ciriaci, a documentary that tells what happened in the midst of the black lives matter revolt and the presidential election, namely the battle over historical monuments. A cultural conflict that engulfs statues of Columbus, confederates, and founding fathers, and questions the American mythical narrative. Exploring a memorial landscape in transformation, «Stonebreakers» questions the relationship between history and political struggle in an America that, today more than ever, is called to reckon with its past. The film - premiered at the people's festival 2022 where it won the special mention for best Italian documentary, the audience award, and the «Must-see» award - will be introduced by Vincenzo Bavaro, associate professor of American literature at the University of Naples L'Orientale.
«Stonebreakers is both a testimony of an extraordinary season and a contribution to a public debate on the role of memory and public history. Coming to terms with the past does not mean freezing it within a monument, but confronting it, reopening it to discussion and continuing to update it. I hope that this film can encourage its audience to share this responsibility and to imagine monuments that do not only represent armed heroes on horseback imposing themselves from the top of a pedestal, but express a history of which we are at the same time spectators, interlocutors, and leading critics» (Valerio Ciriaci, director's notes).
At 9 pm, the director Emanuele Mengotti will present to the Neapolitan public his «West of Babylonia» (Italy, 2020, 82') which catapults us into the Californian desert where there is a place called Slab City, a collection of campers, caravans, tents and foundationless buildings, without running water and without electricity, on the border with a military base where explosive devices are tested. The Slabbers are young and old, hippies and neo-Nazis, outlaws and artists. All united by the desire to be free and not to have to answer to the rules of American society. Everything that is outside of Slab City for them is Babylonia. The doc, which sees Marco Tomaselli as director of photography, is the first of a trilogy still in progress. Presented in world premiere at the biografilm festival of Bologna, the work has toured several international festivals
«Unable to find the American myth in the cities, I shifted my gaze towards the frontier and started looking for it from there, in places like Slab city: outposts of a periphery of no center, refuges in nothingness. Thanks to the search for the American dream, I found my style and my language as a documentarian. After several years of research and shooting, without even realizing the time that was passing, I officially became an American citizen myself, obtaining my second citizenship after the Italian one and fulfilling the American dream» (Emanuele Mengotti, director's notes).
The Astradoc series is curated by Arci Movie in collaboration with the University of Naples Federico II, Parallelo 41 productions and Coinor. The series is sponsored by the city of Naples. The entrance ticket costs 5 euros per screening, reduced to 4 euros for Arci members. To buy both tickets the cost will be 8 euros. The cinema academy Astra is at via Mezzocannone 109. For information and updates, you can visit the social channels of Astradoc or browse the website www.arcimovie.it.