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.”
The filmmakers provide some insight into the genesis of the doc. “Waking Hours emerges from the depths of the forest, not as a backdrop but as a living body — a place of disorientation, transformation, and fragile refuge,” explain Cammarata and Foscarini. “Along the Balkan route, cinema vérité and theater merge in a poetic counter-investigation that reveals without fully showing, creating space for listening. The forest is our boat; cinema, our passage.”
Says Stefano Centini of Volos Films Italia: “We first met the project at Bellaria Film Festival, where the directors pitched it during [an] (In)Emergenza [section session]. It became clear that Waking Hours offers not only a unique look into a world we rarely see from an insider perspective, but also a daring work from two upcoming directors who chose to confront this topic with the necessary formal research and visual approach.”
He concludes: “They are digging out a personal perspective which encompasses the mere ‘function’ of the characters and highlights something more universal about the human condition. We are excited to present this bold film.”
THR can debut the very first teaser for Waking Hours before its world debut in the Venice Critics’ Week program that runs through Sept. 6, as part of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival. “How did it feel to cross the border?” is a question teased in the clip that features darkness and fire.
“I know it’s often said, but this film truly is unique — not only in the content it is showing, but in how it is shown,” says Tommaso Priante of Luminalia. “Waking Hours offers a perspective on migration that hasn’t been seen before. Having worked for a year in a refugee center in Italy, I drew on that experience in creating Luminalia. Bringing films like Waking Hours to audiences means confronting stereotypes and encouraging us to reflect on, and even question, the notions of ‘us’ and ‘them’.’
Watch the first teaser for Waking Hours below.