TUTTAUNANOTTE streaming on e-flux

An Italian Cinematic Showcase curated by Francesco Urbano Ragazzi from November 1 to December 26, 2025.

With works by Marina Apollonio, Atelier dell’Errore, Bottin, Ludovica Carbotta, Pauline Curnier Jardin, Liryc Dela Cruz, Michela De Mattei, Tomaso De Luca, Anna Franceschini, Nicola Genovese, Enrico Ghezzi, Beatrice Gibson, Invernomuto, Sonia Leimer, Miltos Manetas, Stefano Miraglia, Muna Mussie, Raffaela Naldi Rossano, Jacopo Rinaldi, RM, Lorenzo Silvestri, Natália Trejbalová.

TUTTAUNANOTTE is a showcase of films and videos by Italian artists or artists connected to Italy. One among many possible ones. What makes it distinctive is that it brings together artists who, over the past decade or so, have frayed the boundaries of national identity while also stretching the edges of their own. Italians by adoption, by origin, by chance, in transit or refugees, they have defused or imploded nationalist rhetoric, finding self-awareness in openings that transcend individuality. The works presented here do not merely affirm the supposed ethical and aesthetic canons of their creators; they are tools for stepping outside oneself and delving into different layers of reality. Inside and outside their studios, the artists participating in TUTTAUNANOTTE research, converse, and collaborate. They grow together as collectives or form temporary alliances. They found groups, shared studios, record labels, festivals, cooperatives, theater companies, cinemas, exhibition spaces, and associations. And in doing so, they also produce moving images.

TUTTAUNANOTTE brings together some of these images in a program that, from different perspectives, engages with the national imagination, immersing viewers in rarefied nocturnal atmospheres. Across four sections that ideally trace the phases of a restless sleep, dreamlike or spectral darkness becomes a space for attentive listening, as the images guide the audience through temporal dimensions that stretch from Italy’s recent colonial past to distant, fictional futures. The title of the program is a tribute to Toute une nuit, Chantal Akerman’s 1982 film. In one of the film’s pivotal scenes, Gino Lorenzi—pseudonym of Gérard Berliner—sings L’amore perdonerà (Love Will Forgive), a song written in rough, sometimes incorrect Italian. This raw yet intensely expressive language might well be the same language spoken by the works in the showcase.

Warning! TUTTAUNANOTTE is not a best-of, because “the best” does not exist, and if it does, it’s always yet to come.

Section 1: Nightfalling | Saturday, Nov. 1 to Friday, Nov. 14. Works by: Atelier dell’Errore, Beatrice Gibson & Nick Gordon, Tomaso De Luca & Francesco Urbano Ragazzi, Pauline Curnier Jardin & Feel Good Cooperative, Stefano Miraglia, Nicola Genovese.

Nightfalling is the first of the four sections that shape TUTTAUNANOTTE. The six films gathered here linger in that twilight moment when it is still uncertain whether one will surrender to a restorative sleep or be condemned to another long night of insomnia. As the sky darkens over rooms dense with labor, and over landscapes that fade from urban to suburban, the rituals of goodnight unfold between streets, studios, and screens. Mysterious creatures and poetic visions exorcise the fear of the dark that has accompanied humankind since its earliest days.

Section 2: SWS | Saturday, Nov. 15 to Friday, Nov. 28. Works by: Miltos Manetas & Enrico Ghezzi, Invernomuto, Liryc Dela Cruz, Natália Trejbalová, Raffaela Naldi Rossano.

SWS is an acronym for Slow Wave Sleep, the stage of deep sleep that precedes the REM phase. Responding to the rhythm of the brain waves emitted in this state of unconsciousness, the five works gathered in this section are characterized by contemplative visions that slow down the viewer’s attention. The images transform into landscapes, brushstrokes, glimmers, lullabies, breaths of wind, and moments of silence. The selection opens with a tribute to one of the figures who inspired the entire program: film critic and situationist theorist Enrico Ghezzi. With his Fuori Orario. Cose (mai) viste — a broadcast that has been airing since 1988, from late at night until dawn on the Italian national television — Ghezzi has disseminated avant-garde cinema in Italy, contributing to the visual culture of an entire nation. Or at least of its night owls.

Section 3: Paradoxical Sleep | Saturday, Nov. 29 to Friday, Dec. 12. Works by: Anna Franceschini, Ludovica Carbotta, RM, Michela de Mattei & Invernomuto, Tomaso De Luca.

What kind of sleep would it be without dreams? The five films featured in the third section of the program open up to narratives that follow no logic other than their own. On screen, everything comes alive — objects, animals, people, and images — producing aesthetics that respond not so much to surrealist contradiction as to the plausible miracle of psychedelia. Many tricks dear to both old and new cinema are employed: from magnetism to mechanical miniatures, from animation to artificial intelligence.

Section 4: Late check-out | Saturday, Dec. 13 to Friday, Dec. 26. Works by: Lorenzo Silvestri, Jacopo Rinaldi, Muna Mussie, Michela de Mattei, Sonia Leimer, Marina Apollonio & Bottin.

When the night ends, reality knocks at the door. No matter how long one tries to remain half-asleep, sooner or later one must come to terms with their own place in the world. The works gathered in the final section of TUTTAUNANOTTE all call for a reality check. From Italy’s colonial past to the spread of fake news or pseudoscientific knowledge, to the conflicts linking the old and the new century, these images ask viewers to question their own relationship with truth. If the sleep of reason produces monsters, it is in the dark corners of history that we must keep our eyes open.

TUTTAUNANOTTE is a program developed as part of the inaugural Italian Curatorial Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, awarded to Francesco Urbano Ragazzi in 2025. The fellowship is promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture.