Last night I got to go to a special preview showing for the film “Diaz – Don’t Clean Up this Blood”, an Italian film in which my son Nico had a small role as a No-Global protester from France who goes to the G8 Summit in Genoa to join in the massive demonstrations. But he, Henri in the film, and his friend, Alain in the film (Giovanni De Felice in real life), quickly find they are confused and scared as the violence spirals out of control.
The film will have its world premiere this week at the Berlin Film Festival and below I am copying the official press release for the festival.
Daniele Vicari’s Diaz – Don’t Clean Up this Blood to screen at Berlinale
Harrowing drama about police brutality during the G8 Summit in Genoa will have its world premiere in Panorama Special.
In July 2001, on the last day of the G8 summit in Genoa, just before midnight, more than 300 police officers stormed the Diaz school looking for black bloc demonstrators who had been terrorising the city earlier that day. They found only 90 activists, mostly European students and a handful of foreign journalists preparing to sleep at the school that night. As the police rampaged through the building, the demonstrators raised their hands to surrender. Undeterred and unmoved, the officers unleashed a calculated frenzy of violence, beating both young and old, male and female indiscriminately.
The activists who were seriously injured were rushed to the hospital, but immediately afterward were taken to the Bolzaneto police barracks to join those who had already been arrested, and there they were subjected to further abuse and degradation for several days.
Based on the subsequent trials and witness statements, Diaz – Don’t Clean Up this Blood is a dramatic reconstruction of the events of that day from the viewpoints of the police and local and foreign citizens who were caught up in the tragedy. It is a passionate indictment of the extraordinary breach of international human rights legislation by the Italian state against the rights of citizens to freedom of expression, using personal stories and revealing the complex dynamics of politics and protest.
Visceral and unsparing in its detail, Vicari’s account of these days in Genoa reminds us through the inclusion of original footage taken at the scene that this may be a movie but it is not fiction.
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Needless to say I am one proud Mozzarella Mamma.
This summer I accompanied Nico and Giovanni for a few days to Bucharest, Romania where director Daniele Vicari was doing the filming. I had never been on a film set before and was impressed by the sense of passion and teamwork. There were a huge number of Romanian extras, Italian film crew members and Italian, French, German, and Spanish actors.
I got to see the talent of the costume designers and watch the makeup artists carefully paint cuts and bruises on the actors. I listened to the precision of the speech coaches as they pushed my son and his friend to get their lines right in French. All in all, a job well done by the entire team!!
A big congratulatons to Nico. Academy Awards are coming up soon. Move over Georg Clooney. I cant wait to see the film when it comes out.
NJ
You must get a copy of this! Can’t wait to see it!
:-D
Love it. Como si dice “Stage mother” in Italiano? You must be very proud. That is an experience granted to few kids, and with the impact film has on us today, I bet it was quite a thrill for all involved.I am always impressed by the bravery of demonstrators/activists. When I watch them on TV, I always think “I know how this will end.” Sadly, I am often right. I am curious, did you have a discussion about activists vis a vis standing up for one’s beliefs in face of threat of physical harm and/or reprisal from the opposition or the state? What did the kids think? And is the other young fellow the one whose artwork I so enjoy?
Adri — thanks for your comment. Actually we didn’t have a talk about protests and physical violence and we should. It is very much on everyone’s minds these days. Protests are becoming more violent in Italy (and Greece). They have become riskier for journalists to cover – APTN’s cameramen in Greece now wear flack-jackets to demonstrations, and in Rome our cameramen often bring their motorino helmets to put on when protesters start throwing san pietrini (cobblestones). It is fascinating to see how the black bloc movement can hijack an peaceful demonstration. Anyway, I think I better to a post on this topic.
The other boy is a friend of Nico’s and not my talented artist-nephew Gaetano. One day I will put in a photo of Gaetano, or maybe I can get him to do a self-portrait and I will put it on the about page.