Mama Mercy (2023)

• 67%
• 2023
• Alessandra Cutolo

At the end of Prenestina Street in Rome, where the road comes to an end, a massive mirrored building looms like a spaceship or a ghostly vessel. It's an old hotel, long abandoned and occupied. Over the years, hundreds of families from every corner of the world have converged in that microcosm, bringing with them their expectations, pains, and children. That former hotel serves as the backdrop for a rich, tragic, and joyful intersection of destinies. Mama Mercy has too many children and a husband who helps little. Every day, she confuses her steps with the fearless and hurried strides of dozens of other occupying mothers - Ethiopian, Sudanese, Moroccan—struggling to provide a dignified future for their children. Mama Mercy's dream would be to have an extra room, allowing her family to 'expand' beyond the few square meters assigned to them. The mirrored building is a city within the city, where solidarity, competition, hardships, and nobility intertwine.