November 2017: the Italian national team does not qualify for the 2018 World Cup. But in southern Italy, in Bitonto, there are those who are not discouraged: a group of boys is determined to organize a parallel World Cup, to be played there, in the square, in front of the Cathedral, between Italy and the other national teams are made up of immigrants. Ahmed, a boy born to a Senegalese father and mother, however, doesn’t fit in: he was born and raised in Italy, he feels Italian and wants to play for the Italy team. So how do you manage it? There is only one solution: two Italy teams will play and there will be more than a simple soccer match at stake.

Il mondiale in piazza is a short film by the award-winning Apulian director Vito Palmieri, winner of the MigrArti – La Cultura Unisce tender, made with the contribution of the Apulia Film Fund. The short was screened at the 75th Venice International Film Festival, on which occasion it won the Best film in competition award in the MigrArti Culture that unites section and the European Cultural Heritage award.

The film meditates on the sense of a community that is more lively and multicultural than ever, already transformed and integrated thanks to the second generations of Italians, who only seek confirmation of their own legitimacy. Soccer then becomes a sport that connects and can overcome prejudices and barriers.