Manuel Rulli

A story set in the 90s and in the outskirts of Rome to Ostia. A world where money, luxury cars, night clubs, cocaine and synthetic drugs are easy to run. A world in which Vittorio and Cesare, in their early twenties, act in search of their success.

In a picturesque hamlet overlooking the sea near Rome, two young men divide their time between petty thefts and football matches. Their crimes have the lightheartedness and exuberance of childhood games, until an unexpected proposal marks a change in their lives, and that of the history of Italy, with the death of Pier Paolo Pasolini.

On the Lazio coast of Coccia di Morto, Kimutai, a young African boy, enjoys the sun on the shore. The illusion of spending a day like everyone else is suddenly interrupted by a trivial misunderstanding; a chain of misunderstandings with the bathers will force Kimutai to find a new center of gravity in the precarious balance between reality and illusion.

An eighteen-year-old boy is released from an institute for minors with no family support, and for the first time tastes the bittersweet flavor of freedom; an imprisoned mother longs to go back and start all over again. These are the characters taken from the real world and transferred into a film that is first of all a shadowing of human beings, of their hopes and little acts of cowardice. But it is also the story of a time of waiting, of a soul going around in circles, a coming of age in a desolate and oppressive, marginal context that becomes a character in its own right.

Two boys dream of escaping their island town to go on an adventure on the mainland, a son and his lover fight to escape the clutches of an overbearing father, and a priest is shocked when some local students plan to put on a homoerotic rendition of the miracle of Lazarus. Immerse yourself in Italian culture, humor and lush landscapes in these beautiful short films from Italy.​ The 5 short films are: Uproar [Pipinara] (2017); Tidal Time [L'ora di porto] (2018); The Mannequin [Il manichino] (2015); Lazarus Come Out [Lazzaro vieni fuori] (2015); Glue [Colla] (2016).

In 2008, a fight over land in a seaside town near Rome spirals into a deadly battle between organized crime, corrupt politicians and the Vatican.