Reviews
"A meaningful and layered portrait of identity, resilience, and community — a piece that resonates both within Italy and far beyond!"
In Nero: Black Girls in Rome – A Decennial Review is a thoughtful and resonant documentary that revisits a decade of lived experience, identity, and community for Black women in Rome. Director Tamara Pizzoli revisits her original project ten years on, exploring how life, belonging, and self-perception have shifted in one of the world’s most iconic cities.
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What makes this film especially compelling is its deeply personal perspective: Pizzoli herself lived in Rome for many years and approached the project not as an outsider, but as someone with longstanding ties to the city. Her decade-long commitment to this work is clear in the film’s emotional depth and its commitment to authenticity.
The title itself carries layered meaning: “In Nero” in Italian refers both to working “off the books” and to the color black, and the deliberate use of the term “girls” acknowledges the social tendency to infantilize Black women — a term the film reclaims and reshapes through its storytelling.
Pizzoli’s direction is respectful and patient. Rather than imposing an external narrative, she gives space for the women to speak for themselves, allowing audiences to hear stories that are rich in nuance, joy, frustration, and evolution.
The documentary also succeeds in bridging personal anecdotes with broader cultural context. It highlights the diversity of Black women’s experiences in Rome — from moments of warmth and welcome to subtle and overt challenges in navigating a city that is at once romanticized and complexly structured around identity and belonging.
— Auguri Film Festival, Turin, Italy