Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò is spotlighting inclusion and overlooked history this April with two programs that, while different in form, share a common aim: bringing marginalized voices to the fore.
The first event, on Monday, April 14, is a film screening with a twist. Dino Risi’s Il giovedì (1963), a quiet gem featuring Walter Chiari in one of his most vulnerable roles, is being presented not just as a restored classic, but as an inclusive experience. The screening is part of the INCinema Inclusive Film Festival, founded by Federico Spoletti and directed by Angela Prudenzi. Thanks to a collaboration with the Cineteca Nazionale and the free Earcatch app, blind and visually impaired audiences will have full access via audio description.
But accessibility here is more than a technical upgrade—it’s a narrative and emotional reframe. The film, which follows a man’s awkward attempt to reconnect with his son over the course of a day, is a study in longing and fragile connection. That such a story is now fully accessible doesn’t feel like a gesture of accommodation—it feels like a correction, as if the film was always meant to be shared with everyone, in all its understated beauty.
From April 15 to 16, the focus shifts from personal stories to collective memory. Titled Contested Memory of WWII Italian Captivity: Mapping Italian Military and Civilian Internees’ Creativity, the series is curated by Elena Bellina of NYU and Giorgia Alù of the University of Sydney. Through film, scholarship, testimony, and discussion, the program examines a little-known chapter of World War II: the experiences of Italian prisoners—military and civilian—held in Allied camps.
The first day begins with historical presentations and culminates in the premiere of Fedeltà. Soldati. Prigionieri. (2024), a documentary by Stephen Mancini exploring the Letterkenny camp in Pennsylvania. The day ends with a screening of Natale al campo 119 (1947), starring Aldo Fabrizi, Vittorio De Sica and Peppino De Filippo—a film that blends irony with melancholy, capturing the surreal rhythms of life behind barbed wire.
On April 16, the conversation turns to Australia, where Italian captives endured similar hardships. Panels and discussions trace not only the struggles of internment, but the creative resilience that emerged from it. Central to the day’s events is DARCI—the Digital Atlas of Creativity in Captivity—a new archival project that collects and preserves cultural works produced by prisoners in confinement.
Across both programs, a shared message emerges: these stories aren’t being told out of nostalgia or obligation, but out of necessity. At a time when cultural relevance is often tied to spectacle, Casa Italiana opts for something deeper—resonance. It fosters spaces where inclusion is not performative, but lived.
In the midst of it all, Casa Italiana’s own digital presence has earned recognition. Its new website has been named a finalist for the Webby Awards in the “Community” category. It’s a quiet but fitting acknowledgment: the site is more than a platform—it’s a reflection of the Casa’s mission to build a space for dialogue, not exclusion. Public voting is open through April 17.
For a place that never relied on red carpets or velvet ropes, the message is clear: these stories—whether on film or from forgotten camps—belong to everyone.
