Review: Stay human, the Reading Movie – a historical document of a crime against humanity
This work diverges from any known genre explored so far including documentary, fiction, docufiction, and theatre lecturing. ‘Stay Human’ is a pioneer piece of work in a new film genre: the ‘Reading Movie’.
‘Stay Human – The Reading Movie’ features the reading of the book ‘Gaza – Restiamo Umani’ (‘Gaza – Stay Human’) in its entirety. Written by Vittorio Arrigoni (1975 – 2011) this daily journal documents the massacre that occurred during the military attack known as ‘Operation Cast Lead’. Undertaken by the Israeli government against the Gaza strip civilians between the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, the attack resulted in over 1200 civilian casualties and 400 murdered children.
The movie features readers coming from the most prominent academic, cultural and human rights environments:
Stéphane Hessel, Co-editor and signer of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Noam Chomsky, Political scientist, writer and Human Rights activist
Roger Waters, Founder of Pink Floyd and Human Rights activist
Mairead Corrigan Maguire, 1976 Nobel Peace Prize and Human Rights activist
Luisa Morgantini, Former Vice President of the European Parliament
Egidia Beretta Arrigoni, Vittorio Arrigoni’s mother and mayor of Bulciago, Lecco
Hilarion Capucci, Exiled Jerusalem Melkite Archbishop
Yisroel David Weiss, Rabbi and Human Rights activist
Don Andrea Gallo, ‘Priest of the Sidewalk’ and partisan
Moni Ovadia, Actor, writer and musician
Mohammad Bakri, Actor and director
and many others.
The narration of the movie follows the book’s chapters, and each episode was shot in only one take in order to keep the empathy and expression of each participating character. Vittorio volunteered in hospitals and ambulances for the International Solidarity Movement to rescue the Gaza population; victim of unprecedented bombings that go against any international conventions and destroyed hospitals, schools, mosques and civilians’ houses. Arrigoni left us the only existing daily testimony of the whole offensive, which stands as a historic document of a crime against humanity.
Technical details
Film by Fulvio Renzi
Directed by Luca Incorvaia
Written by Vittorio Arrigoni
Cinematography by Luca Incorvaia e Fulvio Renzi
Film editing by Luca Incorvaia
Length 198′ – movie | 145’ – interviews to protagonists
Producers Fulvio Renzi, Luca Incorvaia, Azione Sperimentale Cultural Non Profit Organization, co-financed with crowdfunding of 1600+ individuals
Locations Italy, North America, Israel, Palestine, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Czech Republic
Shooting time from April 2011 to October 2012
ProtagonistsAlberto Arce, Huwaida Arraf, Massimo Arrigoni, Mohammad Bakri, Ronnie Barkan, Egidia Beretta Arrigoni, Archbishop Hilarion Capucci, Noam Chomsky, Maria Elena Delia, Norman Finkelstein, Don Andrea Gallo, Stéphane Hessel, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Luisa Morgantini, Akiva Orr, Moni Ovadia, Ilan Pappé, Roger Waters, Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss
Original soundtrack by Fulvio Renzi
Musicians Fulvio Renzi, Vincenzo Zitello, Paki Zennaro, Fakhraddin Gafarov, Romina Salvadori, Emanuele Wiltsch Barberio, David Boato, Adriano Clera, Gilad Atzmon, Yuriko Mikami, Gionata Mirai
Subtitles english, italian, spanish, german, french, arabic, dutch
Int’l book publishers Manifesto Libri (IT), Scribest Publications (FR), Zambon Verlag (DE), Kube Publishing (UK), Bósforo Libros (ES), Acrps (QA)
Professional support Produzioni dal Basso, Decam-TDD Milan, DotSub, Antares Computers, GnuCoop it for non profit, Azione Sperimentale Media, Roberta Prugnoli Interpreter, Livia Ranalli translations, Lucia Maggi Lawyer’s Office
Endorsers PCHR – Palestinian Center for Human Rights, PCDCR – Palestinian Center for Democrazy and Conflict Resolution, Le Monde Diplomatique, Josè Saramago Foundation, The Peace People, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies of Exeter University (UK), ACRPS – Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies of Doha University (QA), Department of Science of Languages and Cultural Communication Studies of Bergamo University (IT), Brera Academy of Fine Art (IT), ISM International Solidarity Movement (PS) BNC – Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee, Freedom Flotilla, Free Gaza Movement
More info and watch movie: http://stayhuman.tv
