“Roma Tre: My Thirty Years”, 02/10/2023

This video celebrates the 30th anniversary of Roma Tre University, featuring interviews with professors and institutional figures. Guided by a student born during the university’s development (Orazio Rotolo Schifone), a young man from the Ostiense neighbourhood who grew up alongside the university. With rare archival footage (from the Istituto Luce newsreels to amateur videos) and period photos, the documentary reconstructs the state of the Ostiense-Testaccio-Marconi area before the university’s founding: a post-industrial zone characterized by markets and slaughterhouses. With the founding of Roma Tre, everything changed: disused factories became university buildings. The documentary showcases these new “factories of culture” and features significant contributions from the Rector, Massimiliano Fiorucci, the General Director of Roma Tre, Pasquale Basilicata, former Mayor Francesco Rutelli, current Mayor Roberto Gualtieri, and the architects involved in the complex restructuring (Francesco Cellini, Andrea Vidotto, Paolo Desideri), as well as Vice Rectors Anna Lisa Tota and Mario De Nonno, Professor Elena Pettinelli, the president of the Eighth District, Amedeo Ciaccheri, Umberto Marroni, and special witnesses like the owner of the historic Ostiense venue “Il biondo Tevere,” and director Ferzan Özpetek, who made Ostiense a symbolic character in his films. Through interviews, testimonies, and reflections, the birth and development of a university that transformed the neighbourhood and the city are reconstructed, modifying its cultures and playing a major role in research and teaching with a broad and modern project. The video is directed by Vito Zagarrio, director and professor at Roma Tre, produced by the university, and created by Cavadaliga Film with the active support of Roma Tre’s Audiovisual Production Center.