© Matilde Piazzi
Performance
Cinema Impero
Muna Mussie
October 7 – 12, 2025
The event organization is undergoing changes. Tickets on sale soon.
Ten shows per day
Running time: 20'
Tickets
Full: €13
Under 30 / over 65 / groups: €9
Students: €6,50
Membership: included with subscription
The Italian-Eritrean artist Muna Mussie continues her exploration of her dual cultural identity with the project Cinema Impero, whose title references the movie theater of the same name, designed by Mario Messina in 1937 in Asmara. Cinema Impero is a one-to-one experience that delves into the power of cinema in shaping historical narratives and manipulating reality. The spectator, guided by both the human voice of Muna Mussie and the synthetic voice of artificial intelligence, will witness archive footage from the Istituto Luce—created as an educational and propaganda tool in 1924—alongside private videos of the author filmed during her travels in Eritrea. The interplay between these two sources offers an intimate and powerful reflection on the rewriting of official narratives through moving images.
Muna Mussie (Eritrea, 1978) began her artistic journey in 1998, training and working as an actress and performer with Teatrino Clandestino until 2001. In 2002, she attended the Corso Europeo di alta formazione per l’attore at Teatro Valdoca, led by Cesare Ronconi, and continued collaborating as an actress with the company until 2012. From 2001 to 2005, she was a founding member of the research collective Open, where, following the performance opentolikemunamussie (2005), she began developing a personal exploration of her presence on stage. Muna Mussie’s work—situated between gesture, vision, and word—investigates the languages of theatre, performance, and visual arts, shaping the tensions that arise between different expressive poles. Her work has been presented in numerous museums and international cultural institutions.
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Info
Ten shows per day
Tuesday – Friday: 1.30 pm, 2 pm, 2.30 pm, 3 pm, 3.30 pm, 5 pm, 5.30 pm, 6 pm, 6.30 pm, 7 pm
Saturday and Sunday: 11.30 am, 12 pm, 12.30 pm, 3 pm, 3.30 pm, 5 pm, 5.30 pm, 6 pm, 6.30 pm, 7 pm
The performance is in Italian, without subtitles.
Credits
Written and directed by: Muna Mussie
In collaboration with:
Filmmaker / Video editor: Luca Mattei
Africanist anthropologist: Simao Amista
Contemporary art curator: Martina Angelotti
Musician: Matteo Nobile
Sound designer: SimonLuca Laitempergher
Translator: Susan Zuckerman
Special thanks to Filmon Yemane for sharing AI technology dedicated to blind and visually impaired people
With the support of: Passage Festival, Italian Cultural Institute of Strasbourg (IIC Strasburgo)
Co-produced by: Museo delle Civiltà, Rome
A project supported by blOOm network for one-on-one creations, developed by Fondazione Armunia, Primavera dei Teatri, Santarcangelo Festival, Sardegna Teatro, and Triennale Milano Teatro as part of LANDING — a project supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, carried out by Santarcangelo Festival
Special thanks to ATER Fondazione’s Export Department for their valuable support
With the contribution of: Regione Lombardia
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