3 op Reis: Go fishing in Finland | Learn how the Portuguese work cork oak

It ain't bad this '3 op Reis' Dutch TV program they do. They have an episode about Portugal and Finland that I thought was really interesting.

http://www.npo.nl/3-op-reis/21-06-2015/BNN_101374531

It also shows that the Dutch love doing stuff even whilst they are on holiday. The average Italian going on the average vacation in the country do a maximum of 4 trips of no more than 2 km in total in one day.

1. From the house to the beach
2. From the beach to the kitchen 
3. From the kitchen to the beach with a dip after strictly 2 hours 
4. Back from the beach to the dinner table and an after dinner stroll to the same street where everybody goes.*

*The so-called 'la vasca'

Io Sono Li

I perceived Io Sono Li, a film by documentary maker Andrea Segre, like a piece of conceptual art. That type of conceptual art that twists an ordinary object into something different, showing you a new angle, maybe a more poetic side, or a deeper meaning. Italy in the last two decades has been a point of arrival for many low skilled foreign workers, including Chinese. Shun Li is one of them, sent first to Rome, and then moved to Chioggia (La Petite Venise), by an undefined Chinese organisation. She starts working in an "osteria" in the dock area where local fishermen and pensioners meet for a drink, a game of cards, a celebration for the end of one's working life. One of them, himself an immigrant from Yugoslavia who arrived 30 years earlier, feels a connection with the new barista who speaks few words of Italian, let alone the local dialect. Bepi, who calls his real home a shack on the water of the laguna, is locally known as "the poet" and is the type of man that sees things with eyes wide open, a cut above the rest of the group, a simple wise man that is curious and understanding. The two characters break walls and boundaries that are normally very high in the everyday experiences of Europeans rubbing shoulders with Chinese. And this is what is most interesting about this film for me, learning that no matter what differences and hardships people experience they can learn to connect. This is what makes popular culture alive (and in fact Chinese and Italian cultural references feature in the background, becoming universal). We can be affected by macro economic theories, social policies, geopolitics, criminal organisations activities and all of that, but in the end it's up to us to find ways to learn about each other and see things from a perspective which is closer to us than we think.

This film is a true gem that can hardly be seen in the mainstream. Hopefully, having won the European Parliament Lux Prize, it will be distributed at a cinema near you. Do not miss its bittersweet taste.

GREENPEACE IN AZIONE: IL LIDO DI VENEZIA DIVENTA ANTI-NUCLEARE!

Watch and Share This Please. It's about a Greenpeace campaign to remind Luca Zaia (Northern League) about his promises when he was running for President of the Veneto Region in Italy

C'eravamo tanto amati

"We think about the future but the future is already past." This film is about post-war generation of Italians, struggling to find their way into the world. It could so much be about the present, the only difference today is being brainwashed by Berlusconi and Berlusconi style messages. At least that generation had the courage to have children, whilst today we are either leaving the country or becoming parents after 30s. There must be something wrong in our character, the only consolation being that chaos makes great art. Ettore Scola played homage to De Sica and Fellini who portrayed different aspects of Italian society. Today's Italian cinema is more intimate, there no such thing as a reflection upon our generation. Paolo Sorrentino is a good example of that, although the themes seems to be confined to political drama and organised crime. I like to think that in C'eravamo tanto amati the winner is Antonio, although the Gianni's seem to be on the rise nowadays.