The City and the Days

Maurizio and Emanuele are brothers and, as sometimes happens, they appear very different from one another… While Maurizio has continued the family tradition by becoming an architect; the younger Emanuele has broken free, working for years in humanitarian organizations while also harboring unsaid literary ambitions.

Through his father’s manipulation , Maurizio is called back from Paris to Milan to take part in CityDays, the ambitious project of a star American architect. It’s the start of a period in his life when nothing will be straight-forward. Caught between dreams and regrets, a failing marriage, and chaotic work trips between New York, Israel and Buenos Aires, it feels like his role on the project is as babysitter to the architect’s drug-fueled, freewheeling son.

Meanwhile, after a mission in a Congolese refugee camp that leaves Emanuele with a shameful secret, he accepts a position in the troubled Central African Republic. There, amidst political intrigues and struggles, he is confronted with a difficult case of sexual abuse…

The City and the Days finally asks, are the destinies of Maurizio and Emanuele really as separate as they seem? And do we create our lives or fall into preordained storylines? Through his retelling of the family obligations, past and present, and the eternal impulse to escape – and then always return – Filippo D’Angelo perfectly conveys the challenges of each generation: how to become a parent while a part of the self remains a child…