CINETOPIA:DOC presents THE MARCH ON ROME + Director Q&A

DIRECTOR: Mark Cousins

COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN: Italy

Languages: English, Italian (with English subtitles)

RUNNING TIME: 128 min

Certification: N/C 15+

Description:

Through little-seen archive and his characteristically cinematic analysis, Mark Cousins narrates the ascent of fascism in Italy and its fall-out across 1930s Europe. Both essay film and historical document, Cousins contextualises history through the now, holding a mirror to a political landscape of a creeping far right and manipulated media.

The film also stars Alba Rohrwacher, interjecting between Mark’s narration and the archival footage to act as a voice for the ordinary people of the time, a woman’s perspective, a subjective view, alongside footage from modern-day Italy. Of these choices Mark says “I wanted to look at this subject from different angles. We of course had to look the archive footage of the time in the eye, and try to show how complicit it was. I also needed to fight against it with scenes which were subjective, about a woman rather than men, and acknowledged the vulnerability of change. The fascists never said that they were wrong.”

Cinetopia:DOC is a monthly doc club bringing audiences together to watch, discuss and connect around the documentary genre and craft. We screen exceptional documentary films alongside filmmaker Q&As or conversations as well as offer a space afterwards for continued discussion and networking in the Cameo bar. Cinetopia: DOC is supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI and the Scottish Documentary Institute and produced by Cinetopia, a hub of activity around filmgoing and filmmaking based in Edinburgh.