In 1922, fascism came to power in Italy. In doing so, it also ‘inherited’ its colonies: Eritrea, Libya and Somalia. Mussolini soon turned his expansionist sights on the only independent country in Africa: Ethiopia. Through a virulent propaganda campaign, fascism reached the height of its domestic popularity precisely on the promise of conquering Ethiopia by military force and creating its own colonial empire. Expansionist ambitions, white supremacy and economic exploitation were the sinister mirages fuelling this propaganda machine, of which cinema was a fundamental driving force. From the earliest films of big-game hunting in Africa, through those shot by Italian missionaries in Eritrea in the early 1920s, to the films that prepared the ground for and then depicted the colonisation of Ethiopia in 1935–36, *Un ritorno* traces the origins and creation of a colonial visual imagination: racist, violent and profoundly Italian.

Archives: The core of the film collection consists of colonial-themed material relating to East Africa, held in the Istituto Luce archive. This comprises primarily newsreels and documentaries shot between the early 1920s and the late 1930s by Istituto Luce itself or by other producers, which were subsequently incorporated into the Istituto Luce archive. The first category includes, in particular, films shot by the East Africa Section (A.O.I.). The second category comprises films by the Capuchin friars in Eritrea, animated films by INCOM, and those by the Italian Navy. Other private film archives include those held at the CSC-Archivio Nazionale Cinema Impresa, Home Movies – Archivio Nazionale del Film di Famiglia di Bologna, and Cinescatti in Bergamo. Sound archives recorded in the former A.O.I. or recordings of official speeches and popular music tracks are held in various locations, but primarily at Istituto Centrale per i Beni Sonori ed Audiovisivi.

Federico Ferrone, Michele Manzolini

For several years now, Michele Manzolini and Federico Ferrone have been experimenting with blending archive footage, documentary footage and fictional imagery. Their films have been selected for festivals including Venice, Karlovy Vary, Shanghai, Rome, Turin, DocLisboa, Visions du Réel, Jihlava, Docs Barcelona and the European Film Awards (EFA), where Il Varco was nominated for Best Documentary, won the award for Best European Editing.

Claudio Giapponesi – Kiné Società Cooperativa

Kiné is a company founded by professionals from the film and audiovisual sectors, with the aim of producing high-quality films and documentaries exploring memory, personal stories and social issues. After more than 15 years in business, Kiné is expanding, with documentary and fiction projects in international co-production. It currently has two films and two documentaries in development, one in production, and a documentary series, also in production. Among the films produced: (2013 – Turin Film Festival, Karlovy Vary IFF), L’uomo con la lanterna (2018 – Trieste Film Festival – Corso Salani Award, Annecy Cinéma Italien) and Storie della dormiveglia (2018 – Visions du Réel, Biografilm, Zagrebdox).