Megalopolis

Italy, 2008, 112 Minute Running Time
Genre/Subjects: Documentary, Experimental
Language: Italian, English English Sub-Titles

Filmmakers Francesco Conversano and Nene Grignaffini have spent the last twenty-eight years making documentaries around the globe, winning acclaim in the process for their meticulous research, stunning cinematography, and innovative use of different languages and narrational forms. In their latest creation, Megalopolis, they take on the epic mission of examining the megacities of the twenty-first century and their effects on the human beings who inhabit them.

Using narrated passages from the works of such sci-fi visionaries as Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, J. G. Ballard, and George Orwell as a collective framework, Megalopolis seamlessly glides through an average day in the life of six of the world’s biggest cities, zooming in on the specks of humanity within as they go about their daily struggles. In São Paulo, we meet a priest who tries to help the unending tide of homeless souls washing up on the steps of his church. In Los Angeles, we not only ride in a police helicopter but also meet the gang members of the barrios it flies over. Karachi offers us both the young male students of a madrasa and female bloggers fighting the crude Western stereotypes of Pakistan. In Cairo we hear from a father whose family picks through garbage to earn a meager living. We follow an aging couple in Shenzhen fired for lodging a job-related complaint, a young man in Tokyo who runs a website for would-be suicides—and many others, young and old, rich and poor.

The result is an unforgettable glimpse through a global kaleidoscope of cause and effect that takes us from the dizzying heights of skyscrapers to the depths of the human psyche.

DIRECTOR: Francesco Conversano, Nene Grignaffini
Producer: Nene Grignaffini
Editor: Stefano Barnaba, Giusi Santoro
Screenwriter: Francesco Conversano
Cinematographer: Roberto Cimatti