JCU Communications Department Participates in Home Projections (for the Quarantined Hearts)

JCU Communications Professors Marco G. Ferrari and Donatella Della Ratta, and filmmaker Liryc de la Cruz, in collaboration with the CSOA Ex-Snia and the Pigneto-Prenestino neighborhood committee, launched a special edition of the project Marco Asilo: La Casa Ospitale, called Home Projections (for the quarantined hearts).

The aim of the project, which began on March 20, is to ease the quarantine imposed by the Italian government due to the Coronavirus outbreak, and to raise awareness about Rigenera, an initiative that promotes “slow” artistic expressions through poetry, sound, and food with a low environmental impact.

Home Projections projectA series of silent experimental films are projected on the façade of buildings in the Pigneto area every Friday and Sunday, from 9 to 11 p.m. The projections are also live-streamed on Marco Asilo’s and Rigenera’s Facebook pages for those who do not reside in the Pigneto neighborhood.

A project called From Your Windows to Our Screen has been announced in conjunction with Home Projections (for the quarantined hearts), where people are invited to submit their videos of two minutes or less, which will then be screened before the projection of the films.

These projects attempt to unite people despite the social distancing that is currently being practiced, and to cheer up the neighborhood during these difficult times.

The first event of Marco Asilo: La Casa Ospitale, called Home Performances (for the broken hearts) was held on February 14, 2020, and consisted of a series of performances by poets, filmmakers and musicians held in different parts of Professor Ferrari’s apartment in the Pigneto neighborhood.

“The students who attended and filmed the February 14 event are part of my Expanded Cinema Course and we are planning to include the students’ work in the Home Projections event for their final project in late April,” said Professor Ferrari.

Professor Marco G. Ferrari is a visual artist and filmmaker from Chicago, Illinois. He received his M.F.A from the University of Chicago in Visual Arts and his B.A. from DePaul University in Communication and Italian Studies.

Professor Donatella Della Ratta has a background in Media Studies with a specialization in Arabic-speaking media. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Copenhagen in 2013. Professor Della Ratta is a former Post-Doctoral Fellow at University of Copenhagen and at the Annenberg School for Communication, Pennsylvania University and an Affiliate of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

Liryc de la Cruz is a filmmaker based in Rome, Italy.

See the complete program of Home Projections (for the quarantined hearts)