For anyone, like the author of these lines, who has, for some years, lived in the proximity of the Aurelian Walls in Rome’s San Lorenzo neighbourhood, which is just a few steps from the city’s main railway station, the vision seen in San Damiano [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] by documentary-makers Gregorio Sassoli and Alejandro Cifuentes will exude a familiar yet somewhat revealing air, explaining who lived in that tower, who that woman begging at the traffic lights was… Giving a name and identity to the homeless people gravitating around Termini train station is exactly what Sassoli and Cifuentes’ documentary does and, after premiering in a Special Screening in the 19th Rome Film Fest, the film is now enjoying a tour of Italian cinemas (the next stops - between 2 and 16 May - will be Rome, and the Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria and Marche regions. Fuller details on dates, venues and cities can be found here, here and here).

An extended version of one of the directorial duo’s short films from 2023, which triumphed in the Bologna Cineteca’s Italian Visions Festival, San Damiano is the product of these filmmakers immersing themselves in the lives of the capital’s rough sleepers over a two-year period, first as volunteers for the Community of Sant’Egidio, distributing meals to the needy, and then living and sleeping on the streets alongside the homeless during the filming process. The closeness and trust which the two of them must have earned over time is clear (“To begin with, there were a few bottles flying in our direction”, the duo admitted, but “gradually, these hostile gestures were replaced with warm hugs”). Christopher, Sofia, Alessio, Felice and Dorota (just a few of the faces appearing on screen) are wholly unfiltered in front of the camera and, at times, it makes for difficult viewing: far from looking to sugarcoat things, the film depicts violent footage and degrading details of a lives spent on the margins, where everything happens on the streets in the harsh light of day (drugs, sex, bodily functions) amidst thousands of travellers treading these pavements every day, dragging their bags along behind them with indifference, fear and/or disgust.

Damian, a 35-year-old man from Poland who’s escaped from a psychiatric hospital in Wroclaw to travel to Rome with just a pennies in his back pocket and a dream of becoming a rapper, stands out amongst the homeless crowd. It was the directors’ encounter with Damian which actually inspired the film, a fortuitous encounter which took place in the station while the two directors were busy researching another project. Damian’s exuberance immediately captured their attention. But be careful of calling him a “tramp”: he doesn’t sleep on the ground like the others, but on top of a tower, on the ancient Aurelian Wall, to which he returns every evening by clambering up onto a scaffold looking out over the entire neighbourhood. He has plans for the future, personal hygiene is very important to him and he’s going steady with homeless woman Sofia (“He asked me to live with him in the tower, like a princess”, she tells us). But San Damiano is anything but a fairy tale: we’re exposed to ferocious fights, kick-ins, bloody faces; Damian’s mental equilibrium wavers and this man who doesn’t know “whether to be a god or a devil” ends up throwing everything away.

San Damiano was recently victorious in Rome’s Spiraglio Mental Health Film Festival “on account of its powerful story which takes an in-depth approach to tackling the themes of migration, trauma and violence as experienced by its protagonists”, depicting “the main character with realism, without idealising him or minimising his contradictions”. The film screenings taking place in the various Italian cities will be attended by the directors and one of the lead characters, Alessio Mura, who’s a precious witness of his own rebirth from a difficult past.

San Damiano is a documentary produced by Red Sparrow - who are also distributing the movie – and Askesis Film, with support from the Italian Ministry for Culture’s Film and Audiovisual Department.