Prisons, cinema and theater beyond bars: the meeting-show of the former “Women of the High Wall” prisoners at the Rome Film Festival

ROMA – The “Women of the High Wall” they return to the MAXXI for the Rome Film Festival. On Sunday 20 October, at 4pm, the company of ex-prisoner actresses led by director Francesca Tricarico will host a meeting/show dedicated to cinema and theater in prison. How is cinematographic and theatrical art contaminated in language and representation by these restricted places? And how are prisons contaminated, in turn, by these arts?

Thoughts on contemporary dramaturgy. The event will alternate videos of works created in prison with theatrical interventions taken from the company’s shows and testimonies from ex-prisoner actresses on their theatrical and cinematographic experience inside and outside the prison walls. A pretext to create a space for reflection on contemporary dramaturgy resulting from experiences within penal institutions and on the languages ​​used in the staging of shows and films with professional actresses and those not from prison contexts.

The theater laboratory within the walls of Rebibbia. The show meeting at the Rome Film Festival is only the first act of the new theater season Women of the High Wall. The activities of the theater workshop restart within the walls of the Rebibbia women’s prison for the eleventh year. We will work on writing and creating a new show to be staged in the penitentiary institute theater in the spring.

The tour of ex-prisoners. The ex-prisoner actresses of the company will instead take their show on tour to some Roman prisons. Olympe de Gougeschampion of women’s rights during the French Revolution, ended up in prison and then put to death by guillotine. Outside the prison walls, the work in schools continues for the second year with legality education meetings, conducted by the director together with ex-prisoner actresses, and mornings for show business kids Olympusscheduled for December.