FB

The documentary ‘Near Light’ by Niccolò Salvato (UK, 2023) will be screened for the first time in Florence on the occasion of the XV Florence Biennale (Fortezza da Basso, Florence, 18-26 October 2025), themed “The Sublime Essence of Light and Darkness. Concepts of Dualism and Unity in Contemporary Art and Design”. 

The documentary focuses on Mattia, a young man convicted murderer who, after spending seven and a half years in one of Europe's maximum security prisons, is given a chance of redemption when he is allowed to attend in-person classes for a Master's degree course in Marketing at Bocconi University, the best Italian Business School. 

Selected by the Florence Biennale's Curatorial Board for its ability to make us reflect on very sensitive issues, such as the re-education of prisoners and their reintegration into society, and for its adherence to the theme of the XV edition, which in dealing with dualisms (such as good and evil) emphasises the need for an overall vision and to rise towards the highest ideals, ‘Near Light’ shows a path that sees evil turn into good and despair into hope.

Prison, on the other hand, represents one of those places where a democratic country measures its rate of adherence to universal human rights: “it is the fulcrum where the use of force, regulated by the State in the process, seeks its most difficult balance with the humanity of punitive treatment and with the re-educative response that the Constitution entrusts to punishment” (1). It is precisely in relation to this difficult balance that the Florence Biennale has chosen to include in the programme of the XV edition this important documentary, which has already won awards at the second edition of Vision 2030, the sustainable film festival in Noto, and at the Liberazioni Festival in Turin (special mention).