Nuovo Mondo series continues with screening and discussion with filmmaker

March 21, 2024
Poster for CIC film series MAKA April 2024
Poster for CIC film series MAKA April 2024

The Center for Italian Culture at Fitchburg State University will continue its 2023-2024 programming series, Nuovo Mondo: A Century of Immigration from and to Italy, with a series of film screenings that focus on recent immigration to Italy from diverse perspectives.

Admission to the screenings, all of which will be held in Ellis White Lecture Hall in Hammond Hall, is free and open to the public. 

The events will also include a virtual workshop in April for those interested in applying for Italian citizenship. 

The film series continues at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 2 with Maka (2023), which tells the story of Geneviève Makaping's life in Italy and perilous migration journey. The Cameroonian-Italian anthropologist and writer is the first black woman to serve as the editor of a newspaper in Italy. Inspired by Makaping's book Reversing the Gaze, the film offers a poignant reflection on displacement, identity, and belonging.

Portrait of filmmaker Simone Brione
Filmmaker Simone Brioni

Following the screening, Associate Professor Kevin McCarthy of the Communications Media Department will facilitate a virtual question and answer session with the film’s writer, Simone Brioni.

The center will also host a virtual workshop on applying for Italian citizenship at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 16. Information on signing up for the forum, presented by the Vermont Italian Cultural Association, will be posted to the CIC’s programming page at fitchburgstate.edu/nuovo-mondo.