Trump ahead: Taormina Taj Mahal
Niccolò Bruna, filmmaker with a cause, daydreamer and indie producer
"Niccolò Bruna", filmmaker, filmmaker, director, "video production", documentary, documental, regista, video, Barcelona, "Ready.Barcelona". ENG
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Trump ahead: Taormina Taj Mahal

In 2004 I started an epic journey into the Italian community of Broccolino, the Italian name for Brooklyn, NY. I was searching for the identity of the Italian Americans but I ended up in Trump’s temple of kitsch, the Taj Mahal. The outcome is the short Taormina Taj Mahal, an instant documentary that enters the nostalgic world of the “Dagos” by following a Sicilian family that travels to Atlantic City to assist the Sanremo music festival. A cultural clash where the only way to find the right path seems that of getting lost.

I dug it out on occasion of the regrettable election of Mr.Trump. Enjoy it (the short, not the outcome of the election).

As the title suggests, Taormina Taj Mahal is the paradoxical combination of a noble origin that will never become again. A nostalgic journey backward in time and ahead in the postmodern cheesy style of Trump’s temple.

What an amazing finding: I soon realized that many common stereotypes about Italian Americans are definitely true. But I also discovered a disturbing bond of personal brotherhood with those feelings. The idealization of the native land is an easy idea to latch on to.

Today, over 17 million Americans claim Italian ancestry, third only to Brazil and Argentina. Italian Americans are the fourth largest European ethnic group in the United States.