JCU Hosts the Screening of A Ciambra: Italy's Candidate for Oscar

The JCU Media and Communication Speaker Series and the Department of Communications” hosted the screening of A Ciambra by Jonas Carpignano on Monday, November 3, 2017. A Ciambra launched from this year’s Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight, where it won the Europa Cinemas Label Award. Italy has selected A Ciambra, set in a Romani community in southern Italy, as its candidate for the foreign-language Oscar.

A Ciambra Poster

Writer/director Carpignano spent his childhood between Rome and New York, and currently lives in Calabria, Italy. His first feature film, Mediterranea, had its world premiere at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival (Semaine de la Critique) where it garnered rave reviews.

A Ciambra stars Pio Amato as a 14-year-old growing up in a Romani community in Calabria. Pio wants nothing more than the respect of his older brother, whom he emulates in every way including his career as a petty criminal. When both his father and brother are arrested, Pio is determined to prove that he can step up and be the head of his sprawling Romani family. But a fateful night and a wrenching decision soon test just how ready he is. Steeped in the complex social fabric of Southern Italy where Italians, Romani, and African migrants coexist in uneasy tension, A Ciambra is a bracing plunge into a world in which growing up fast is a matter of survival. The film was produced by Stayblack Productions, RT Features, Sikelia Productions, RAI Cinema, in association with DCM, Haut et Court, Film i Vast and Filmgate Films.

A Ciambra, mostly in the local Calabrese dialects, was distributed in Italian cinemas with Italian subtitles. It will also be released in North America by Sundance Selects. The screening at John Cabot University was “a unique opportunity to see it with English subtitles ahead of its US distribution in 2018,” said Communications Professor Peter Sarram.