Cecilia Mangini and Paolo Pisanelli's Vietnam War Documentary Premieres at Rome's MAXXI

On July 2, 2020, during the Extra Doc Festival competition at Rome's MAXXI Museum, Cecilia Mangini and Paolo Pisanelli premiered their documentary 'Due scatole dimenticate – Un viaggio in Vietnam'. The film revisits Mangini's 1965 experience in North Vietnam with her husband Lino del Fra, where they worked on the unfinished short 'Le Vietnam sera libre'. The project was abandoned when Hanoi repatriated foreign delegations amid escalating war. Decades later, Pisanelli discovered forgotten boxes of negatives and notes in Mangini's home, sparking the film. Shot entirely in Mangini's house, it reconstructs three months of pre-war reconnaissance through photographs, sounds, and memories. The documentary highlights Vietnam's resistance against imperialism and colonialism, drawing parallels to contemporary global protests. Pisanelli, who has curated Mangini's retrospectives since 2005, collaborated with editor Matteo Gherardini, sound designer Simone Altana, and musician Admir Shkurtaj. The film premiered in the seventh edition of 'Cinema al MAXXI', dedicated to Italian documentary excellence.