Shadows of Endurance

The film is the result of the intersection between a series of interviews with people that live in Harlan today and the voices from the past gathered by Alessandro Portelli. While the places are the same, the themes, though connected, are often in opposition. Today's Harlan is facing the crisis of the ming industry and, as a result, poverty, crime, social isolation, and drugs are on the rise.

Director Diego Scarponi works at the University of Genoa, where he directs the Audiovisual Laboratory “Buster Keaton” and conducts research with a focus on the traces of the industrial presence in urban environments and its role in the construction of contemporary identity. He produced and directed numerous documentaries and cross-media projects. “L'età del ferro” (The Iron Age, 2013) was among the finalists at the Viaemiliadocfest and participated in the Genova Film Festival and the Mantova Film Festival. With the short doc “Memoria fossile” (Fossil Memory, 2014) he was selected at the TIFF, Tirana International Film Festival (November 2014). In 2015 he worked at “Ribelli e fuorilegge” (Rebels and Outlaws) and at “Alfabeto Camallo - Noi eravamo tutto” (Alfabeto Camallo – We were all).