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Hotel Splendid

"Hotel Splendid" is an intimate and a collective account of a community of migrants from the African coasts who are living in a reception center for asylum seekers. It is a glimpse into the daily experiences and operation of an Italian hotel turned into an emergency camp for refugees.
The documentary interweaves two different story-lines: the dramatic journey undertaken by the migrants to reach Europe, with its load of violence and abuse, and the itinerary that asylum seekers must follow upon their entrance in the camp until the evaluation procedure is over.

  • Mauro Bucci
    Director
  • Mauro Bucci
    Writer
  • Mauro Bucci
    Producer
  • Adama Sangare
    Key Cast
  • Essa J. Darboe
    Key Cast
  • Baomar Touray
    Key Cast
  • Roton Miah
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 30 minutes 7 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 15, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    98,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Italy
  • Country of Filming:
    Italy
  • Language:
    English, French, Italian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital Pro Res HQ (Full HD)
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Festival dei Popoli
    Florence
    Italy
    November 30, 2016
    World Premiere
  • Days of Ethnographic Film (DEF)
    Ljubljana
    Slovenia
    March 1, 2017
    International Premiere
  • Trento Film Festival
    Trento
    Italy
    May 1, 2017
  • Valdarno Cinema Fedic
    Valdarno
    Italy
    May 5, 2017
    1) BEST DOCUMENTARY 2) BEST FEATURE-LENGTH FILM
  • Bastimento Film Festival
    Bologna
    Italy
    May 12, 2017
    SPECIAL MENTION
  • Moscow International Festival of Visual Anthropology “Mediating Camera”
    Moscow
    Russian Federation
    May 17, 2017
    Russian premiere
  • Finnish Anthropological Society Conference 2017 “Entangled Mobilities”
    Jyväskylä
    Finland
    May 18, 2017
    Finnish premiere
  • Tenemos Que Ver Film Festival
    Montevideo
    Uruguay
    June 13, 2017
    Uruguay premiere
  • Festival “Interazioni”
    Rimini
    Italy
    June 2, 2017
  • Mostra Internacional de Cinema Etnográfico (MICE)
    Santiago de Compostela
    Spain
    June 3, 2017
    Spanish premiere
  • Chiala Afrika Festival
    Graz
    Austria
    June 16, 2017
    Austrian premiere
  • International Ethno Film Festival "The Heart of Slavonia"
    Djakovo
    Croatia
    June 22, 2017
    Croatian premiere
    GRAND PRIX AWARD "THE HEART OF SLAVONIA"
  • Pärnu International Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival
    Pärnu
    Estonia
    July 7, 2017
    Estonian premiere
Distribution Information
  • Mauro Bucci Ethnographic Films
    Country: Italy
Director Biography - Mauro Bucci

Mauro Bucci in an Italian filmmaker and independent researcher in the field of Visual Anthropology. He wrote scientific essays about ethnographic films for the Italian cinema journal «Bianco e Nero», for the ethnographic journal «Visual Ethnography», for a collective volume of anthropological papers published by Clueb. His latest essay is a chapter for the book «Looking with Robert Gardner» edited by W. Rothman, C. Warren and R. Meyers for the Horizons of Cinema series by SUNY Press. Mauro Bucci graduated with honours from the University of Bologna in “Dams” (curriculum Cinema) and has a diploma from the School of Visual Ethnography of ISFCI in Rome.
He worked as a one-man crew shooting video, recording sound, and editing footage for "Hotel Splendid", his first work as a cinematographic author. The film recounts the lives of a group of migrants from the African coasts seeking political asylum in Italy. The documentary, which was self-produced, was completed following 12 months’ of fieldwork, and is based on the ethnographic method of participant observation.

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Director Statement

"Hotel Splendid" provides a fresh insight into the phenomenon of migration thanks to an internal point of view taken whilst living with refugees for one year.
"Hotel Splendid" has an important educational and testimony value: through the vivid memories and experiences of the film subjects, the documentary shows an overview of the migratory situation from Africa to Europe (Central Mediterranean route) and it explains how it works an Italian (and EU) refugee camp and political asylum procedure.
The film is capable to promote intense discussions about migrations and human rights due to the urgent and current topics faced.
Besides, the film has a sober and direct aesthetic that is common in the ethnographic documentary genre.