Film phase:Completed
SYNOPSIS
Life in Southern Italy is thrown into a tailspin when refugees arrive by the thousands and the locals are left to fend for themselves. Eritrean survivor Aregai, trapped in the Italian faltering immigration system, goes underground to reach Northern Europe. Through his journey, intercut with the road trip to Germany of a Syrian family, the clash between the newcomers and the locals escalates in real time.
ABOUT THE DIRECTORS
LORENA LUCIANO
Born and raised in Italy, where she graduated from the School of Law at Milan University, Lorena Luciano moved to New York City in 1996 to pursue her career in documentary filmmaking. In 1998 her first feature documentary on Italian iconoclast playwright-performer Dario Fo, a Nobel Laureate in Literature, entered the Venice Film Festival’s official selection. Lorena is the recipient of several prestigious artist grants such as the MacArthur Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Ben & Jerry Foundation, and Chicken & Egg Pictures. Her media work focuses on social issues, the environment, the human rights as well as on the arts. Her films, winners of numerous awards, have been screened and distributed internationally. She lives in New York with her two children and her husband and film partner Filippo Piscopo.
FILIPPO PISCOPO
Filippo Piscopo is a New York based documentary filmmaker, producer and cinematographer whose directing credits include, among others, Variety and New York Times-praised Urbanscapes – theatrically released in 2006; Venice Film Festival official selection and Houston WorldFest winner A Nobel for Two; NYSCA recipient, Independent Film Week showcased and multiple awards winner Coal Rush. Granted the Social Justice Award by Amy Goodman, Filippo’s documentary work, a collaboration with his wife and film partner Lorena Luciano, has been internationally recognized with several audience and jury prizes.
NOW PLAYING
It will Be Chaos debuted at the 2018 Seattle Film Festival and went on to a sold-out AFI Docs screening before hitting the international festival circuit. It won the Best Directing Award at the Taormina FilmFest and has been shortlisted for the 2019 Italian Oscars – the David di Donatello Awards. In the US, the film premiered on HBO on World Refugee Week and it is streaming on HBO NOW, HBO GO and on-demand. Translated into over 10 languages, It Will Be Chaos has been distributed globally.
As part of the rollout of the film, screenings in the US were organized in partnerships with UNHCR, the IRC, and Refugees International. The documentary has been incorporated into critical migration discussions among policymakers in Europe, becoming the centerpiece of public hearings and conferences in Brussels among leaders of the EU parliament.
It Will Be Chaos continues its run on the international festival circuit, as well as at universities in the US and abroad.