Numbers, journeys, communities
The year 2025 (and the 2024–2025 season) marked an important expansion in ZaLab’s distribution: world and national premieres, international festivals, author-led tours, and a strong presence across Italian cinemas.
Five films, five different paths, united by the same goal: telling stories that engage with the present and build spaces for participation through cinema.
Il secolo è mobile
by Gabriele Del Grande
Italy, 90’, 2024
A multimedia monologue exploring the history and future of migration in Europe, blending archival material, narration, and political reflection.
Premiere:
April 5, 2024, 8:45 PM – Cinemazero
First public screening:
April 8, 2024, 9:00 PM – Padua, Fronte del Porto
Distribution:
39 cinemas and theaters across Italy.
Tempo d’attesa
by Claudia Brignone
Italy, 75’, 2025
A summer in Naples, under the generous canopy of a magnolia in the Bosco di Capodimonte park. A circle of women, expectant mothers, guided by Teresa, a deeply experienced midwife.
The film follows both their collective moments and intimate experiences, offering a reflection on motherhood today and the urgent need for community.
Premiere:
December 3, 2024, 6:15 PM – Laceno d’Oro, Spazio Campania Section – Cinema Partenio
First public screening:
December 15, 2024, 5:30 PM – Rome, Nuovo Cinema Aquila
Distribution:
35 Italian cinemas.
Noi e la Grande Ambizione
by Andrea Segre
Italy, 70’, 2025
A journey through contemporary Italy, exploring the relationship between younger generations and political engagement. A collective story that investigates the desire for participation and the future.
Special Screening (Official Screening):
Rome Film Fest 2025 – Monday, October 20, 8:00 PM – Teatro Palladium
Premiere:
November 5, 2025, 8:30 PM – Palermo, Cinema Ariston
First public screenings in Milan:
November 9, 2025 –
- Cineteca Arlecchino
- Cinema Anteo
- Beltrade
Distribution:
43 cinemas across Italy.
Il Castello Indistruttibile
by Danny Biancardi, Stefano La Rosa, Virginia Nardelli
France, Italy, 71′, 2025
After its world premiere at CPH:DOX 2025 – DOX:AWARD, the film toured an important international festival circuit, receiving awards including:
- Fipadoc 2026 – Prix des Jeunes Européens
- Rome Independent Documentary Festival 2025 – Best Documentary (ITA-DOC)
- Biografilm Festival 2025 – Pratello Award
The Italian tour (February 2026) is supported by the Ministry of Culture and SIAE under the Per Chi Crea program.
Gli uccelli del Monte Qaf (Past Future Continuous)
by Morteza Ahmadvand and Firouzeh Khosrovani
Iran, Norway, Italy, 80’, 2025
World Premiere:
Giornate degli Autori 2025 – International Competition, Venice
After Venice, the film continued its international journey, winning the IDFA Award for Best Film in the Envision Competition at International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.
The film traverses exile, memory, and political imagination with a radical and deeply human perspective, weaving intimate and collective dimensions into a visually and narratively powerful story.
Distribution as connection
Overall, ZaLab’s 2024–2025 films screened in over 117 cinemas and theaters across Italy, generating meetings, debates, and shared experiences.
For ZaLab, distribution is not just circulation of films: it is the creation of temporary communities, cinemas as spaces for dialogue, listening, and collective imagination.
2025 confirmed that there is an attentive, curious audience eager for cinema that does not simplify the present, but engages with it.
And we continue from here.