''Unexpected'' ( it, Inatteso) is an Italian 2005

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

written and directed by

Domenico Distilo Domenico Distilo (born 25 December 1978 in Rome, Lazio, Italy) is a filmmaker living and working between Rome, Italy and Berlin, Germany. He graduated in film direction from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome with the film '' Unex ...

. Distilo's diploma film from

Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia The Centro sperimentale di cinematografia (Experimental Film Centre or Italian National film school) was established in 1935 in Italy and aims to promote the art and technique of cinematography and film. The centre is the oldest film school in ...

, Unexpected is a documentary on the demand for

political asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another enti ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It was screened in 2005 at the

Festival dei Popoli A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, in 2006 at

Berlinale The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

(section Forum), an

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

Film Festival, where the movie won the prize as best documentary, at the Arcipelago Film Festival in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, where it won the jury's special mention, at the El ojo cojo festival in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, at the Unheard Voices festivalUnheard Voices 2006
/ref> in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and many other minor festivals. Poet

Erri De Luca Enrico "Erri" De Luca (born 20 May 1950, Naples) is an Italian novelist, translator and poet. He has been recognized by critic Giorgio De Rienzo of '' Corriere della Sera'' as "the writer of the decade". He is also known for his opposition to t ...

composed a poem for the movie entitled ''Them'' (''Loro'').

Synopsis

Those who seek

fear for their very survival. They are forced to wait for several years, are forbidden to work and receive no assistance from the State. They are not provided with lodging, food or information. The refugees set up communes, building shelters,

squatting Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

derelict buildings near to centres of agricultural employment and frequently move around according to the harvest season. They survive thanks to their network of solidarity, voluntary organizations and black market work. Starting in

where a vast community has squatted the old state railway warehouses next to Tiburtina station, the film traces stopovers in the journey of a nomadic population of asylum seekers who, crossing the Italian peninsula, must head for the centres of seasonal harvesting in order to survive. A geographical exploration of the exile of heroes, deserters and refugees from the wars in postcolonial Africa: the new migrants of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

References

External links

* 2005 films Italian documentary films Student films Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia Documentary films about illegal immigration to Italy 2005 documentary films 2000s Italian films {{2000s-documentary-film-stub