Following the 2012 construction of a mausoleum dedicated to Fascist general and colonial viceroy Rodolfo Graziani in Affile (Rome), this film chronicles the bloody Italian occupation of Ethiopia from 1935–1941 and examines its unresolved legacies in Italy, Ethiopia and the United States.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director, the producer Isaak J. Liptzin and the historian Iman Mohamed.

Courtesy of Awen Films.

Originally from Rome, Valerio Ciriaci moved to New York City in 2011 to attend the New York Film Academy. In 2013 he co-founded Awen Films, with which he has directed independent documentaries, news and editorial videos, and other audiovisual projects. “Stonebreakers” is his third feature film after “If Only I Were That Warrior” (‘Imperdibili’ prize at Festival dei Popoli and Globo d’Oro 2016) and “Mister Wonderland” (‘Il Cinemino’ prize at Festival dei Popoli).

Iman Mohamed is an interdisciplinary historian of race, law, and empire in modern Africa. She is a doctoral candidate in History at Harvard University. Her dissertation project, “Racializing Soomaalinimo: Labor and Race in Somalia Italiana,” examines the formation of Somali categories of belonging under Italian rule, tracing it through the afterlife of slavery, post-emancipation labor regimes, and colonial race science. She is currently based in Rome, where she is an associate researcher at Università degli Studi Roma Tre. 

The event will be held in-person, registration is not required.

For further details on the INCONSCI (ANTI)COLONIALI programme, download the pdf.