Closing Night at the Vogue Theatre on Sunday, December 2 at 7:15pm
THE CALL (La Convocazione) and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC (Aperti al Pubblico), two award-winning documentaries from Festival dei Popoli.
Preceded by presentation of the City of Florence award to the most compelling narrative by an up-and-coming director.
The festival is proud to close with two world class documentaries that won awards at Italy’s prestigious documentary film festival, Festival dei Popoli: THE CALL, directed by Enrico Maisto and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, directed by Silvia Bellotti.
THE CALL (La Convocazione) 56 minutes
Directed by Enrico Maisto
The police personally deliver notices to appear to jurors assigned to Milan’s Court of Assizes, which tries the most notorious crimes and massacres in Italy. At 10 a.m., sixty tense Italians take their places in the court’s somber chamber, where the lead judge addresses them. Enrico Maisto’s documentary is an exceptional chronicle of that special day when a citizen comes into direct contact with the administration of justice.
The Call was awarded Best Mid-length Documentary at Hot Docs and the Premio MyMovies Audience Award at Festival dei Popoli.
Followed by (without an intermission):
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC (Aperti al Pubblico) 60 minutes
Directed by Silvia Bellotti
The housing authority of Naples manages 40,000 public housing units. Its offices ring with arguments between employees—whose task it is to follow regulations with impartiality—and the multitudes of applicants who need housing. In her feature-length cinéma vérité documentary, Silvia Bellotti’s nonjudgmental lens oscillates between capturing Kafkaesque absurdity and quirky episodes of Neapolitan comedy.
Open To The Public won the Premio del Pubblico (Audience Award) at the 2017 Festival dei Popoli.