DocNomads film selected to Festival dei Popoli, Italy
Marta Massa’s graduation film The Trials was selected to the 66th edition of Festival dei Popoli, the leading International Documentary Film Festival in Italy and the oldest in Europe which this year is held from 1 to 9 November in Florence, Italy.
By Marta Massa (Sardinia) • 25’ • 2025
Maja T. is a non-binary antifascist activist hailing from Germany. They have been detained in isolation in Budapest since 2024 after being from a German prison following the issue of a European arrest warrant. They are accused of being involved in an attack against a neo-Nazi gathering in the Hungarian capital. The facts have not yet been ascertained, but Maja faces a sentence of 24 years. Activists and family members are staging a protest outside the prison for Maja’s release. The Trials unveils an emblematic judicial case in present-day Europe, where the criminalization of antifascism is becoming a common practice. Adopting an observational approach, Marta Massa deconstructs a Kafkaesque device such as the current trials, constituted by unreliable depositions and simultaneous translations that slow down and alter the sessions. Her films is also a portrait of a sensitive and brave activist who is languishing in Orbán’s prison despite the lack of evidence.
In Festival dei Popoli catalogue
