Video
& interviews

During the first months of life, a newborn child does not perceive anything but himself. Then, as time goes by, he has to accept that everything around him, the world, exists independently of his will. Donald Winnicott, a psychoanalyst, spotted some objects that come along with us on this trip, and he called them “transitional objects”. I think back to my transitional object: it was a blanket. The blanket protects us, warms us, it hides. And if you hide, it makes us disappear. And we do not exist anymore. I want to think that the blanket is a transitional object that was never abandoned by all the poor people of Italy. It’s the desire of a man, a woman, a refugee, a fired, a divorcee who do not want to abandon the idea of ​​a world shaped by their needs. Behind those blankets I want to see so many cloaks: superheroes who fight evil, that remind us of what is evil. Then I close my eyes, hoping to wake up newborn, wearing my blanket and a great desire to change the world. A world where work enhances men rather than men being enhanced for the work they do. A world where everyone has a right to a minimum income for citizenship, because we all want to live ... out of that blanket. 

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For further information visit the 2016 Program.

I was distractedly watching the movie on Titanic, when I heard saying “women and children first”. I had never thought about that phrase, but this time I searched on the internet and I found out that it was said for the first time the 26 February, 1852 by the commander of the troopship Birkenhead. The 480 soldiers left the lifeboats to women and children, the only ones who were save in the end. They represented life, hope. It's a gesture of chivalry from the old days, a practice which should always be applied. Not only on the high seas. But if there is not a leader capable of enforcing the rules, the risk of abuse gets tangible, real. And if not even a lifeboat is being provided, not even a life jacket, then there’s no escape. In this storm, there is no longer any distinction between men, women, children: we are left alone, forced to drown sooner or later. I think about my life, my family, my everyday life.

Reconciliation policies should provide the possibility to desire a future for our children; they should enable us to heal them, to give them perspectives. Children first, indeed. Whether you are man, a woman or a child, it is difficult to match a life project with a working one. The conflict between our jobs and our family lives forces us to swap our time with our relations, and therefore our happiness. I will be happy only when the captain of my ship will not be forced to scream “women and children first”, but when everyone, without distinction, will be able to get safe. Without any order.

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For further information visit the 2016 Program.

A video of highlights from the First Edition of the Festival. You can access the contents of the First Edition of the festival by visiting the 2015 Edition website.