A CinemaItaliaUK Project in collaboration with Professor Felia Allum (University of Bath, UK).
Donne Di Mafia is a cultural project developed through the collaboration between CinemaItaliaUK and Professor Felia Allum. The festival brings academic research and public engagement together through cinema, exploring the representation of women within the mafia world and challenging dominant narratives around gender and organised crime.
The intellectual foundation of the project stems from Professor Allum’s long-standing research into Italian organised crime. Her contribution to Donne Di Mafia was supported by a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship (2018-2022), which enabled her to deepen her investigation into the roles, agency and representations of women within mafia and other criminal contexts. In close partnership, CinemaItaliaUK translated this research into a dynamic public programme, shaping the curatorial vision and leading audience engagement. This collaboration ensured that rigorous academic insight directly informed the mafia films selected and the conversations generated by the festival.
Moving beyond traditional portrayals of passive mothers, subordinate wives and dutiful daughters, the films presented by Donne di mafia depict women as complex actors within criminal worlds. While some are constrained by patriarchal systems, others collaborate, lead, resist or rebel. Together, these stories dismantle simplified stereotypes and foreground women’s agency, influence and power.
Reframing mafia narratives
The festival was conceived to challenge the conventional, male-centred gaze that has long shaped mafia storytelling. By decentralising male action and restoring women’s presence to the centre of the narrative, Donne di mafia offered a more nuanced and historically grounded understanding of gender dynamics within organised crime.
Between 2020 and 2025, the project ran annually, with a dedicated event each March-April. Over five years, the festival showcased films spanning decades of Italian cinema and history. Screenings included London premieres such as Una Femmina (2022) by Francesco Costabile and A Chiara (2021) by Jonas Carpignano, alongside classics such as La Sfida (1956) by Francesco Rosi, which recounts the rise of the post-war Camorras.
Launched online during the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival began as a virtual event before moving into cinemas in central London and Bath. Each screening was followed by in-depth Q&A sessions featuring directors, actors, lawmakers and professionals actively working to challenge organised crime in Italy. These exchanges fostered dynamic public discussion and offered audiences rare insight into the social, political and historical realities behind the films.
Far removed from fictionalised depictions such as The Sopranos or The Godfather, Donne Di Mafia presented a complex and authentic exploration of gender, politics and history within mafia contexts.
The project concluded in April 2025, marking the completion of a five-year programme that created a sustained space for critical reflection, cultural exchange and public engagement.