The film From the Campidoglio to the Zoo examines the persistence of coloniality in postwar Italy through the history of the “Flaminio Bridge” in Rome. The bridge, designed by Armando Brasini in 1930, was originally meant to be named “Ponte XXVIII Ottobre” with the intention of celebrating the Fascist feat of the March on Rome and providing a ceremonial entrance to the city from the North. Due to the outbreak of World War II, the bridge was not completed until 1951, and although it changed its name, it retained its original architectural style.
Thompson’s film work takes its title from an unpublished text by African-American writer William Demby, who lived in Italy for more than 20 years and worked with directors such as Federico Fellini and Roberto Rossellini. In 1959, Demby wrote a critical essay on the Second World Congress of Black Writers and Artists, which took place at the Campidoglio and in the spaces of the then “African Museum” (the former “Colonial Museum”), adjacent to the “Zoo” (now called “Bioparco”) in Rome. The screening of the film at the Museum of Civilizations was soundtracked by Dudù Kouate who reactivated, in a contemporary version, some musical instruments from the Collection of African Arts and Cultures of the Museum of Civilizations, performing their intangible dimension.
