The Italians Doc It Better showcase, dedicated to Italian documentaries, presents a program entirely made up of world premieres. Ten titlesexplore history, identity, and social change, resonating strongly in the present while capturing echoes of a possible future.
Among these, the award-winning Italian director Agostino Ferrente presents THE POSSIBLE LIVES/LE VITE POSSIBILI, produced by Casa delle Visioni Srl, Pirata Manifatture Cinematografiche, and Anemone Film (Italy, Switzerland). This unique work, born as a spin-off of the documentary Selfie, brings to light previously unseen material and fragments of filmed life. In Naples’ Rione Traiano, twelve-year-old children face choices from which there is no return, almost inevitably. It is within that “almost” that hope resides. The film reflects on the possible lives of these young people, the limited opportunities they are given, and how time transforms the meaning of every recorded image, posing both an ethical and aesthetic challenge to the disposable image culture while questioning the very language of documentary filmmaking.
Also set in Naples, FISH DON’T CLOSE THEIR EYES/I PESCI NON CHIUDONO GLI OCCHI, produced by Big Sur Srl, Oh!Pen, Artline Films, and Jando Music, and directed by Audrey Gordon (France, Italy, USA), blends fiction and documentary to tell the life of Italian writer Erri De Luca. At its center is the 1960 novella in which a young Erri discovers love and faces justice, crossing the threshold from childhood to adulthood. Two young actors play him and his companion, while acted scenes intertwine with Super 8 footage and archival material from postwar Naples and the 1970s, creating a poetic dialogue between memory, dream, and reality, where personal recollection meets collective history.
Marco Amenta, previously director of La Siciliana Ribelle, directs THE POOR THEATER OF MONTICCHIELLO/IL TEATRO POVERO DELLA VAL D’ORCIA, produced by Eurofilm (Italy). For 59 years, the village of Monticchiello in the province of Siena has staged an open-air “poor” theater without sets or professional actors, relying solely on residents who think through and perform their own stories. Each year, it attracts audiences from around the world, revives shared memory, and combats depopulation through culture, addressing universal themes such as rural decline, the power of collective art, and the resilience of community memory.
A solemn vision of poverty is also at the center of THE EIGHTH DAY/L’OTTAVO GIORNO, produced by Rete Blu Spa and directed by Sabrina Varani (Italy). During the Holy Year, homeless men and women become protagonists of a journey that leads them to the Holy Door of St. Peter. In a play of light and shadow, fall and redemption, fragility and hope, they cross thresholds deeper than stone, those of the self, toward a new beginning called the Eighth Day.
With ROSANNA BETWEEN THE LINES/ROSANNA TRA LE RIGHE, produced by Michelangelo Film and directed by Pepi Romagnoli (Italy), the director takes us on a journey with her mother. At 57, Rosanna earned a diploma in graphology and published three books. Today, at 88, she embarks on an imaginary walk through the childhood forest where she once guided her daughter, culminating in an emotional finale where memory, identity, and family intertwine.
In MY FATHER’S WIGS/I CAPELLI DI MIO PADRE, produced by Seven Hills Productions Srl and directed by Lorenzo Signoretti (Italy), the director portrays his father Aldo, a four-time Oscar nominee whose wigs shaped the worlds of Moulin Rouge!, Gangs of New York, and Apocalypto. As Aldo dismantles his historic Roman atelier, Lorenzo explores personal archives to reveal the man behind the craftsman, blending cinematic grandeur with intimate reflection and examining art, identity, and the silent bonds between father and son.
Sophie Chiarello and Giulia Amati present HEART DRESSED/VESTITI CON IL CUORE, produced by Alexandra Cinematografica srl (Germany, Italy). Set in remote villages in Bhutan, Guatemala, Peru, and Kyrgyzstan, the film follows weaver artisans struggling to preserve ancestral traditions under the pressures of industrialization and isolation. The arrival of four internationally renowned designers sparks unexpected collaborations, blending ancient techniques with contemporary visions to chart ethical paths for the future of fashion and highlight the resilience of these women.
From the mountains of Asia and Latin America, the focus shifts to the Italian Alps with PESTIFERUS LUPUS, produced by Box Vision and directed by Ludovico Serra and Luca Jankovic (Italy). In Forno, a remote Alpine village and one of the last mountain communities resisting depopulation, wolves are returning to the forests amidst memories of exorcism masses and centuries-old protective rituals. As nature advances, the shepherds unite in ritual and resistance, and in this forgotten Italy, faith becomes the final bulwark against fear.
OTO, produced by Small Boss and directed by Elisa Motta and Matteo Ferrarini (Italy), is a celebration of hearing that takes the audience on a journey through time and space, weaving ancient sound traditions from around the world with contemporary acoustic landscapes in remote and intimate locations. A meditative exploration of the part of ourselves we have left behind, it reveals sound as substance and life itself, echoing the Tibetan proverb: “Everything began with the sound of SU, before there was nothing.”
Closing the selection is ARI: MOM, SEX AND EVERYTHING ELSE/ARI-BERLINDREAMSSEXMEMORIES, produced by Antifilm and directed by Fabio Breccia (Italy). Ari is an unconventional figure, a modern-day ninja who reinvents herself every day. Behind makeup and disguises lies a deep wound, filled with dreams and rituals. She rules as dungeon master in Berlin’s legendary KitKat Club, where pleasure follows strict rules. Amid latex and neon, Ari builds another reality. Blending her personal journey with the energy of the BDSM scene through overlapping visual and narrative styles, the film is ironic, moving, and provocative, showing how becoming someone else can be the most authentic way to be oneself.
Original title: ARI - BERLINDREAMSSEXMEMORIES Feature Doc Italy Arts and Culture, Biography, Human and Society, Other Ari is a freak! A modern ninja who reinvents herself daily. Behind makeup and disguises hides a deep wound, filled with dreams and rituals. In Berlin, he’s dungeon master at the iconic Kitkatclub, where pleasure follows strict rules. Among latex and neon, Ari builds another reality. The film blends Ari’s... more
Production Company/ies:
Antifilm
Original title: I PESCI NON CHIUDONO GLI OCCHI Feature Doc France, Italy, USA Biography, Other The film alternates fiction and documentary to portray Erri De Luca’s life. At its core is “I pesci non chiudono gli occhi,” set in 1960, where young Erri discovers love and confronts justice, crossing from childhood to adulthood. Two children embody Erri and a young girl, while fictional scenes intertwine... more
Production Company/ies:
BIG SUR; OH!PEN; ARTLINE FILMS, JANDO MUSIC
Original title: HEART DRESSED - VESTITI CON IL CUORE TV One-Off Germany, Italy Arts and Culture, Global Issues, Human and Society In remote villages across the world (in Bhutan, Guatemala, Peru and Kyrgyzstan), a group of skilled craftswomen striveto preserve their ancestral textile traditions in the face ofindustrialization and isolation. When they cross paths with fourinternationally renowned fashion designers, unexpected collaborationsemerge, blending heritage with innovation and forging new, ethicalpaths for the... more
Production Company/ies:
Alexandra Cinematografica, LattePlus
Original title: I CAPELLI DI MIO PADRE Feature Doc Italy Arts and Culture, Biography My Father’s Wigs is an intimate portrait of Aldo Signoretti, four-time Oscar nominee whose wigs shaped iconic characters in Moulin Rouge, Gangs of New York, and Apocalypto. As Aldo dismantles his historic Roman lab, his son Lorenzo uses rare personal archives to uncover the man behind the craft. Blending cinema’s... more
Production Company/ies:
Seven Hills Productions Srl
Feature Doc Italy Human and Society Oto celebrates the sense of hearing and takes us on a journey through time and space. Thousands of years of knowledge are interwoven with contemporary experiences lived in places both far and near. A meditative journey to find a part of ourselves that we have left behind. A journey in... more
Production Company/ies:
Matteo Pecorara
TV One-Off Italy Human and Society In a small, remote village in the Alps, Don Gaudenzio revives an ancient tradition: the exorcism mass against the wolf - an invocation once addressed to God to protect the people from nature’s fury. Two hundred years later, Pestiferus Lupus explores the consequences of the wolf’s return to Forno, one... more
Production Company/ies:
Francesco Cutello, Luca Jankovic, Ludovico Serra
Original title: ROSANNA TRA LE RIGHE Feature Doc Italy Arts and Culture, Biography, Other Does our handwriting reveal who we are?Rosanna, my mother, at 57 earns a graphology diploma and publishes three books. Today she turns eighty-eight and I decide to film her and I suggest we take an imaginary walk through a forest where she used to take me as a child. As... more
Production Company/ies:
Michelangelo film
Original title: L'OTTAVO GIORNO Feature Doc Italy Human and Society In the Jubilee Year, the protagonists of this story are the homeless men and women living on the margins, whose stories are not so different from our own. In the background, a quiet humanity moves forward, step by step, toward the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica. In this ongoing... more
Production Company/ies:
ROBERTA FRANZONI
Original title: IL TEATRO POVERO DELLA VAL D'ORCIA Feature Doc Italy Arts and Culture For 59 years, Monticchiello (Siena) has hosted a unique theater. It's not made of bricks, or professional directors and actors. It's called "poor" theater and it can be seen in the town square. The inhabitants of this small Sienese village think and perform it every year, attracting spectators from all... more
Production Company/ies:
Simonetta Amenta
Original title: LE VITE POSSIBILI Feature Doc Italy, Switzerland Human and Society The other side of the award-winning documentary Selfie: a one-of-a-kind spin-off that unearths precious unused and unpublished footage, unrepeatable fragments of filmed life.In Naples’ Rione Traiano, as in many deprived neighborhoods around the world, kids as young as twelve are forced into early no-return paths, almost inevitably — and in... more
Production Company/ies:
Casa delle Visioni Srl
Selected Documentaries for Italians Doc It Better 2025
ARI: MOM, SEX AND EVERYTHING ELSE
FISH DON'T CLOSE THEIR EYES
HEART DRESSED
MY FATHER'S WIGS
OTO
PESTIFERUS LUPUS
ROSANNA BETWEEN THE LINES
THE EIGHTH DAY
The POOR THEATER Of MONTICCHIELLO
THE POSSIBLE LIVES
