Original title: ‘Waking Hours’ Takes Us on a Nocturnal Journey With Afghan People Smugglers (Exclusive Venice Teaser)
Waking Hours is the debut feature documentary by Federico Cammarata and Filippo Foscarini, which will celebrate its world premiere on Thursday, Sept. 4, in the competition section of the Venice Critics’ Week (Settimana Internazionale della Critica), an independent event taking place during the Venice Film Festival. The movie from Rome-based production company Volos Films Italia, in co-production with Roberto Minervini’s Cosma Film and in collaboration with RAI Cinema, takes us on a nocturnal journey with a clan of Afghan people smugglers at the edge of the European Union, enabling illegal border crossings between Serbia and EU member Hungary. They are “awaiting those to be carried across the border, wandering through the labyrinth of a sleepless, perpetual night,” notes a synopsis. “At the edge of the forest, shadowy human figures gather around the fire, while the distant echo of gunshots reverberates through the night. Not far away, a wall of sharp metal marks the beginning of Europe.