Il festival del proletariato giovanile al Parco Lambro

During the 70’s in Italy, following popular music events like Woodstock, the Isle of Wight and Monterey, many festivals were organized that were dedicated to rock and pop music. In 1975 and in 1976 in Milan, the magazine Re Nudo (“Naked King”) set up the Festival del Proletariato Giovanile (“Festival of the Youth Proletariat”), which was by far the most important event in Italian counterculture. In June 1976, Alberto Grifi formed four small crews armed with video cameras and 16mm film and, at the request of the organizers of the festival, filmed the music event. As had already occurred when ANNA was being filmed, shooting again completely changed direction when a large group of spectators improvised a protest against the organizers who propagated left wing culture and conveyed it through a fully-fledged trading system, made up of the sales of food, beer, books and records. What should have been a classic concert film, is transformed into a document that testifies to the need for participation “from below”, the claim of a space that is truly proletarian. First stirrings of the tumultuous Italian 1977.