Noi e la Grande Ambizione
We and the Great Ambition
by
MOVIE CATEGORY
Andrea Segre
During the Italian release of The Great Ambition, a remarkable and unexpected turnout of young people filled theaters. Andrea Segre traveled to various cities to speak with them, in movie theaters, universities and places of civic and political engagement. We and the Great Ambition is the fruit of this journey into the relationship between life and politics, between the individual and society, between fear and dreams among today’s twenty- and thirty-year-old generation. Combining encounters and conversations with behind-the-scenes footage and previously unseen scenes from the film, the documentary offers an opportunity to listen and reflect on a historical period marked by a profound crisis in democratic participation. Here, the lively, yet sometimes disillusioned, perspective of young people can offer an opportunity for reflection, hope and courage.
DIRECTORY
Director and screenwriter of films and documentaries, with a PhD in Sociology of Communication and Cultural Processes, born in Dolo (Venice) on the 6th of September 1976, he has directed five feature-length fiction films: Shun Li and the Poet (Lux Prize European Parliament 2012), La prima neve (Grand Prix Annecy 2013), The Order of Things (Human Rights Award VeniceFF 2017), Welcome Venice (Made in Italy Award Berlin 2022) and The Great Ambition (nominated for 15 David di Donatello Awards and 5 Nastri d’Argento). He directed a lot of documentaries: Marghera Canale Nord (2003), A sud di Lampedusa (2006), La mal’ombra (2007), Like a Man on Earth (2008), Magari le cose cambiano (2009), Il sangue verde (2010), Mare chiuso (2012), Rebetiko Crisis: Undue Debt (2013), Come il peso dell’acqua (2014), Dreams of the Salt Lake (2015), Ibi (2017), Il pianeta nel mare (2019), Molecole (2020), Po (2022), Trieste Shines at Night (2023), Noi e La grande ambizione (2025); his films have been presented at important festivals and events, from Venice to Beijing, from Locarno to the Open Roads: New Italian Cinema program of the Film at Lincoln Center. He has published three books: the diary collections Fuori Rotta (Marsilio) and Scritti Mediterranei (People Edizioni), and the novel La Terra Scivola (Marsilio). He is a founding member of ZaLab, a production, distribution, and socio-cultural action laboratory founded in 2006, through which he has produced and distributed most of his documentaries and coordinated many participatory video workshops in Italy and abroad.
