The Cast: Procession

The film recalls an incident that took place in 1958 in Cinecittà (Rome) during the shooting of the movie Ben Hur, when thousands of extras tried to force the gates and enter the studios demanding work. In the film, a Roman procession scene is being rehearsed on set and a casting is taking place in preparation for shooting when the scene is interrupted by the demonstration outside and the production team calls for intervention by the police. The following actions reveal that Procession is staged by a contemporary crew and the cast of the film is in fact composed of actors and activists from the Teatro Valle Occupato. The Teatro Valle, one of the oldest theatres in Rome, was occupied in 2011 and has since turned into a self-organised cultural centre. The narrator of the film is the eyewitness Mino Argentieri, a critic and cinema historian, who wrote the article about the incident for the newspaper l’Unità on 7 June 1958. In this film von Wedemeyer employs different genres to create a unique visual atmosphere: from documentary essay to theatrical choreography.