This film closes on Thursday, November 13th.

Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2013, Sacro GRA has the distinction of being the first documentary to take that prestigious award. Depicting the disparate lives close to the Grande Raccordo Anulare, an expansive ring road around Rome, director Gianfranco Rosi spent more than two years identifying his subjects and weaving their stories together, producing an artful and insightful observational film that has frequent moments of humour and pathos, of joy and anguish.

Rosi proves himself astute at unveiling beauty in everyday mundanity, and among the characters on screen are an ambulance driver, who is seen saving lives one moment, then alone in his flat; a naturalist studying how weevils are destroying palm trees that line part of the road; an eel fisherman, seen decrying the loss of tradition; and a self-proclaimed prince, proudly showing off his castle. (Notes by Michael Hayden.)

Reviews:

“It is an enigmatic non-fiction essay, a docu-prose-poem about the peripheries of urban life in Rome.” ★★★★ The Guardian

“Definitely worth seeing” ★★★ RTÉ Ten

Don’t forget we now schedule weekly.