Stonebreakers chronicles the conflicts around monuments that arose in the United States during the George Floyd protests and the 2020 presidential election. As statues of Columbus, Confederates and Founding Fathers fall from their pedestals, the nation’s triumphalist myths are called into question. By exploring the shifting landscapes of American monumentality, the film interrogates the link between history and political action in a nation that must confront its past now more urgently than ever.

This event will be in English.

Left: Film Still, Stonebreakers, 2019.

Valerio Ciriaci is an Italian documentary filmmaker living in the United States. Born in Rome, Valerio graduated from “La Sapienza” university in 2011 with a degree in Communication and a thesis on Jean Rouch’s ethno-fiction. That same year, he moved to New York City to attend the documentary program at New York Film Academy. In 2012, he co-founded the production company Awen Films, with which he has directed independent documentaries, editorial videos, and other non-fiction projects. His short documentaries, Melodico (2012), Treasure – The Story of Marcus Hook (2013), and Iom Romì (2012), have been selected by numerous international festivals, including Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Bari International Film Festival, and the New York Jewish Film Festival at Lincoln Center. In 2015, he released his first feature, If Only I Were That Warrior, winner of the ‘Imperdibili’ award at Festival dei Popoli and of the 2016 Globo d’Oro for best documentary. Mister Wonderland, his second feature, received the ‘Il Cinemino’ prize at Festival dei Popoli in 2019 and was broadcast on Rai in Italy and on PBS in the U.S.