Brexit docufilm 'The Great European Disaster Movie' screened at GAM Torino

On September 13, 2016, the GAM (Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea) in Turin hosted a screening of 'The Great European Disaster Movie', a documentary directed by journalist and filmmaker Annalisa Piras, with former Economist editor Bill Emmott as executive producer. The film, which premiered nationally a year earlier, eerily predicted the Brexit vote of June 23, 2016, by a year. GAM's joint director Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev invited the filmmakers, describing the work as a contemporary art piece within film history. The 80-minute film blends cinema, journalism, documentary, graphics, and animation, and concludes with an animated reference to Fausto Veranzio's parachute as a symbol of European cross-cultural collaboration. After the screening, a debate ensued, moderated by photographer and documentarist Francesco Jodice, focusing on the hybrid nature of the film rather than political arguments. Piras and Emmott discussed the film's impact on changing mindsets through emotion and storytelling. The film features archival footage and interviews from five European countries (UK, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Croatia) and follows an eight-year-old Italian girl on a turbulent plane flight, seeking explanations about the EU from a British archaeologist. The Wake Up Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Piras and Emmott, uses films as educational tools.