BEYOND THE FRAME

Critical Reception

"Oltre i bordi has not only successfully and masterfully investigated the Brioni family’s colonial history, as well as Brescia’s, highlighting the powerful connections between the political and the personal, but it [ ...] also reminds us of the importance of critically engaging with Italy’s uncomfortable past and of not overlooking its traces." Alice Parrinello, g/s/i

"Oltre i bordi, a compelling experimental documentary, [...] offers an opportunity to discuss

contemporary diaspora (not always formed by force) as a lens through which to contemplate other kinds of migration and global movement, including imperialism and language migration. [...]  The fact that this film is about photography, specifically colonial photography, asks us to contemplate the linked apparatuses of colonialism and photographic media and to consider how both make certain kinds of pictures and frame certain worldviews." Tenley Bick, Italian American Review

Film Festivals

2023 Winner, Virginia Dares Cinematic Arts Award, United States

2023 Finalist, Montauk Film Festival, United States

2023 Finalist, Boden International Film Festival, Sweden

2023 Honorable Mention, Better World Film Festival, Murnau am Staffelsee, Germany

2023 Semi-Finalist, Young and Independent Cinema, Social World Film Festival, Vico Equense, Italy

2023 Official Selection, Cinalfama Lisbon International Film Festival, Portugal

2023 Official Selection, New Haven Documentary Film Festival, United States

2023 Official Selection, Festival del Cinema Africano, Asia e America Latina, Milan, Italy

2023 Official Selection, Pápa International Historical Film Festival, Hungary

2023 Official Selection, History Film Festival, Rijeka, Croatia

2023 Official Selection, Tokyo Short Film Festival, Japan

2023 Official Selection, Seoul International Film Festival, South Korea

2023 Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Historical Filmmaking, Ogeechee International History Film Festival, United States

Screenings

2023

5/19 Festival d'altra quota, Trento, Italy

6/22 MUDEC, Milano, Italy

6/23 Cinema Eden, Brescia, Italy

7/20 Comune di Borgosatollo, Brescia, Italy

7/28 Associazione Sul Palco, Malegno, Brescia, Italy

9/25 Seton Hall University, NJ, United States

11/30 Stony Brook University, NY, United States

12/7 Calandra Italian American Institute, NY, United States

2024

2/17 Dartmouth College, NH, United States

3/12 University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom

3/27 University of Pennsylvania, PA, United States

3/29 Casa Italiana Zerrilli Merimò, NY, United States

5/16 University of Warwick, United Kingdom

Logline (Italian)

Oltre i bordi presenta un’intima riflessione sulla fotografia coloniale e interroga la prospettiva con cui essa ha costruito l’Africa. Attraverso un’esplorazione che prende forma da un archivio familiare scoperto in maniera fortuita, Oltre i bordi osserva, interpreta e riflette sul modo in cui le tracce del passato coloniale danno forma al nostro presente. 

Synopsis

The fortuitous discovery of box of photographs taken in Italian East Africa in the 1930s by a distant relative, prompts more general considerations about the colonial gaze and its legacy. In a narrative that interweaves personal reflections and collective history – shared by both colonizers and colonized – this film invites us to look what is left “beyond the frame” from colonial photography. 

La scoperta casuale di una cassettina di fotografie scattate nell’Africa orientale italiana degli anni ’30 da un lontano parente, suscita considerazioni più generali sullo sguardo imperiale, sulla sua costruzione dell’altro e dell’altrove, e sulla sua eredità. In una narrazione che intreccia le riflessioni personali e la storia collettiva, condivisa da colonizzatori e colonizzati, questo documentario invita a guardare “oltre i bordi” della fotografia coloniale. 

 Study Guides

• Simone Brioni and Lorraine Hallett “La quarta via, Aulò, Oltre i bordi e Maka: A Study Guide” Scritture Migranti 18 (2024) 

• Simone Brioni “La quarta via, Aulò, Oltre i bordi e Maka: attività didattiche” Scritture Migranti 18 (2024)