Overview

The Cast (Procession) recalls the the protests that broke out among extras in 1958 during filming of the Hollywood production Ben Hur in the Cinecittà film studio near Rome, which was originally founded by Mussolini. Thousands of unemployed workers had hoped to be hired for the scenes featuring human masses. When they were turned away they stormed the film studio. In the film, the voices of the protesters of yesterday are played by cultural activists of the present: members of the Teatro Valle Occupato, who came together in 2011 in order to save the Teatro Valle, the oldest theatre in Rome, by assuming collective management of the theatre. - e-flux