Giuseppe Ferrara

Bambini dell'acquedotto

Film b/w, 10' / 1960

Bambini dell'acquedotto, a short film, dates from 1960, the start of Ferrara’s career. The film is notable for Ferrara’s experimental approach to a style of documentary filmmaking informed by neo-realism. In a quick succession of images, Giuseppe De Roberti’s camerawork highlights the escapades, odd jobs and everyday life of children on the margins of the city. The actors frequently re-enacted scenes taken from their real lives. Ferrara’s film, released at the same time as the Rome Summer Olympics, illustrates the culture clash between a world of steam engines and ancient aqueducts with the Acquedotto Felice shantytowns, which existed well into the 1980s.