Lorenzo Fabbri New Book Presentation

Moderated by Michelle Baroody, curator of Mizna’s Arab Film Festival and monthly film series and the former executive director of the Italian Film Festival of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Baroody is also a co-founder of Archives on Screen

Lorenzo Fabbri is a professor, film curator, and producer based in Minneapolis. He teaches film&media at the University of Minnesota and is the producer of Fred Kuwornu's We Were Here: The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe. Lorenzo has curated the Italian Film Festival of Minneapolis / St. Paul for numerous years, and now spearheads the Twin Cities Black Europe Film Festival as its founding director.

Cinema Is the Strongest Weapon: Race-Making and Resistance in Fascist Italy (University of Minnesota Press, 2023)

Why did ordinary Italians collaborate with colonialism, white supremacy, antisemitism, chemical warfare, and totalitarianism? How did such toxicity become so widespread, and upon what imaginaries was Italy's banality of evil undergirded? Cinema Is the Strongest Weapon delves into these pressing questions, examining Italy’s national film industry during the reign of Benito Mussolini. Fabbri's book explores how cinema was wielded as a potent political tool by both the fascist regime and its adversaries. Drawing incisive parallels to contemporary debates surrounding race, whiteness, authoritarianism, and politics, this work offers an urgent examination of the profound impact of visual media on culture and society.

The presentation is FREE and open to the public.

For more information see https://mspfilm.org/italian-film-festival/