Documentary, B/W, 88′, 2016


https://vimeo.com/187371584


  • Original title: Gente di Amore e Rabbia
  • Written by Stefano Casertano
  • Directed by: Piacca collective
  • Executive producers: Antonio Padovani and Monica Manganelli
  • With Massimiliano Lustri, Alessandro Fornaci, Marco Vellini, Mauro Angelucci
  • Editing: Michaela Lean
  • Music: Apples in Space
  • Distribution: Nomadenkino


Opened in the southern suburbs of Rome in the early 1980s, “Corviale” is the largest residence building in Europe, hosting some 1,200 apartments and more than 8,000 people within a total length of one kilometer. Corviale is a public housing project inspired by Le Corbusier and the principles of the “Ideal City”, yet it failed “even before opening” and has always been plagued by intense criminality and lack of vision.

Resident friends Massimo, a former addict and inmate; and Alessandro, an artist, decide to set up an association for “handcraft and arts” to provide alternatives for youngsters and unemployed in the area. Their dream must face personal and public challenges, with outbreaks of joy and desperation.

A tale of redemption and hope, “People of Love and Rage” explores the personal struggle of the protagonists, and is a passionate portrait of the sub-culture of Roman suburbs. The movie is therefore also a tribute to Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Accattone” and “Mamma Roma”, since the people living in the neighborhoods where Pasolini shot were moved to buildings like Corviale in the 1970s-80s. How do the Pasolini people live nowadays?

The movie is a documentary structured as a fiction movie, exploring new ways of story-telling and interaction with the protagonists. As in neorealism “non-professional” actors were the first option of some directors, in “People of Love and Rage” people portray themselves in their real life, gaining a new perception of themselves as real and fictional figures at the same time.