Italian-born journalist Barbara Serra’s award-winning documentary Fascism in the Family is a personal, historical and timely look at the role that the legacy of Fascism still plays in Italy today.
Barbara’s grandfather was the fascist mayor of Carbonia, a key mining town in Sardinia which was used as a place of exile and punishment for political dissidents and prisoners of war. While tracing back her family’s involvement in the regime, Barbara also discovers a direct link between her grandfather and Germany’s Nazi leadership - a revelation made even more poignant by the fact that Barbara’s young son is half Jewish.
How much does its fascist past influence Italy today? By speaking to Holocaust survivor and Senator Liliana Segre and Lega leader Matteo Salvini among others, this film examines the current anti-immigration sentiment, rising intolerance and the attacks on a free media to see if these are warnings that the country where the word Fascism was coined is at risk of repeating its history.
The film is in English with Italian subtitles. The conversation will be in Italian but Barbara can answer any questions sent via Twitter in English.