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Selfie

Name: Selfie
Director: Agostino Ferrente
Released: 2019
Duration: 76 min

Representation Score

5.9/10

Fair

2019

Director

Agostino Ferrente

Runtime

76 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Selfie is a participatory documentary where the subjects, Alessandro and Pietro, use an iPhone to document their lives. This allows them to reclaim their own control over their stories. They disrupt traditional documentary structures and resist being viewed as passive victims. The film effectively portrays the complex relationship between individuals and the state. It frames the protagonists as active agents of their own reality rather than passive victims of urban neglect. While the film does not explicitly engage with specific identity politics, it addresses systemic exclusion and challenges the observer/observed dynamic, offering a progressive perspective on localized identity.

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Category Breakdown

Does Selfie have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film highlights the strong, platonic bond between two teenage boys and their shared survival experience. It emphasizes emotional connections without explicitly addressing non-straight relationships.

How does Selfie portray gender?

Fair

The movie centers on male protagonists but avoids typical masculine stereotypes. It portrays masculinity through vulnerability, friendship, and emotional intelligence in a restrictive setting.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Selfie?

Good

The film offers substantial representation of urban populations in Naples, focusing on underrepresented communities. It shifts attention from affluent views to a localized, non-dominant social group.

How does Selfie represent religion and culture?

Good

The work criticizes systemic failures and historical neglect in the Trajan district. It prioritizes the lived experiences of underrepresented residents over official institutional narratives.

Does Selfie include disability representation?

Minimal

There are no specific depictions of visible or invisible disabilities that serve as central narrative drivers.

Present on Screen

Subjects use digital tools to become their own narrators.
Disrupts traditional documentary hierarchies and the outsider's perspective.
Offers a nuanced portrayal of masculinity through vulnerability and friendship.
Critiques systemic institutional neglect through a localized lens.

Limited or Absent

Does not include explicit representations of LGBTQ+ identities.
Does not feature disabilities as central narrative drivers.
Focuses mainly on male protagonists.

Official Synopsis

Naples, Trajan's district. Initially it was intended for the inhabitants of the shantytowns on the seafront of Naples, who were homeless after the war. But it soon became a kind of ghetto. Alessandro and Pietro are two teenagers who film with an iPhone to tell their difficult neighborhood, their daily life, the friendship that binds them.

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