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The Department of French and Italian welcomes you to a film screening of the Italian film Autumn Beat, with a Question-and-Answer Session with the Director and Writer Antonio Dikele Distefano!

“Autumn Beat” produced by Amazon Studios and co-produced by Indiana Productions is an exciting and unprecedented story about Black culture in Italy, and the role of music as a means of redemption and search for identity. Two brothers, Tito and Paco have the same dream: to break into the rap music world. Paco is a born performer and Tito knows how to write like no other but ambition, life, and love for the same woman will test their bond. 

The film, which spans three-decades, has a cast mostly made up of Italian of African descent comprising Hamed Seydou, Abby 6ix, Geneme, Juliet Joseph, Dylan Magon, Mohamed Diallo, Marco Renna, Mamy Seny Gueye, Francesco Danquah, and Mafoku Michelle Cloe Kengne, and Italian hip-hop stars: Gué Pequeno, Ernia and Sfera Ebbasta. Nicole Morganti, head of Italian Originals at Amazon Studios, said: “This is an exciting and unprecedented story about black culture in Italy, and the role of music as a means of redemption and search for identity.” 

Antonio Dikele Distefano is an Italian writer, producer, and filmmaker of Angolan descent, author of five successful young adult novels with combined sales exceeding 500,000 copies. He is the co-creator of the 2021 Netflix series Zero, and the director and screenwriter of the 2022 Amazon Prime film Autumn Beat, both featuring young Black Italian protagonists. An inspiration to many Black Italians, he has pioneered numerous projects in publishing, television, and social media. In 2016 he founded Esse Magazine – the largest and most influential rap publication in Italy today – to showcase Black artists and performers. He owns the communication agency Cantera. With his production company he is developing films that bring Black Italian performers onto the world stage. His mission is to produce quality projects that positively portray underserved communities.

The FIlm Screening is Monday, February 13^th at 5:30pm in Eaton Humanities, HUMN 1B90.

The film is in Italian with English subtitles. 

Email Michela Ardizzoni at michela.ardizzoni@colorado.edu with any questions we hope to see you there!