Movie Showing & Discussion of the Italian film “Focaccia Blues” – April 8, 2019 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm

Movie Showing of the docufiction film “Focaccia Blues” by Italian filmmaker Nico Cirasola and discussion to follow. Focaccia Blues is introduced and discussed by Dr. Chiara De Santi, an Assistant Professor of Modern Languages at Farmingdale State College, SUNY, and a specialist of Italian cinema, language, and culture.

The film; Focaccia Blues is a 2009 docufiction by Italian filmmaker, Nico Cirasola, and it tells the story of a focacceria in Altamura, which was apparently instrumental to the closure of a McDonald’s in the same Apulian city. After the screening, we will discuss the docufiction as the representation of campanilismo, namely the antagonism between two cities, a concept dating back to the Middle Ages. In the docufiction, campanilismo is depicted as competition between the U.S., representing the fast-food philosophy, and Italy, the birthplace of the Slow Food movement.