The Roots of Madness (Switzerland, 2026, 107′)

Italian subtitles / English subtitles

Thursday 8 October, 9 p.m., Cinema Massimo, Screen 3, Via Giuseppe Verdi, 18

In collaboration with Ordine dei Giornalisti del Piemonte.

On Thursday 8 October at 9 p.m. at Cinema Massimo, Screen 3, Job Film Days, in collaboration with Ordine dei Giornalisti del Piemonte, presents the Italian premiere of The Roots of Madness by Edgar Hagen. After forty years reporting on conflicts in the Middle East, journalist Ulrich Tilgner returns to the places he covered as a correspondent, accompanied by Edgar Hagen’s camera. Through encounters with old friends and contacts and a vast archive of images, the film brings the past reported by the journalist into dialogue with the consequences those wars have left in the present. A journey through the memory of war reporting and the work of those who have chosen to cover conflicts on the ground.

The director introduces the film, followed by a Q&A. With Carla Piro Mander (journalist).

Admission: tickets required.

Italian premiere

International title: The Roots of Madness
Original title: The Roots of Madness
Director: Edgar Hagen
Screenplay: Edgar Hagen, Fanni Hatházi, Mark Daniels
Photography: Börres Weiffenbach, Soran Khateri, Michael Hammon, Michael Terhorst
Edit: Christian Büttiker, Audrey Maurion, Yasaman Seyedahmadi
Music: Tomek Kolczynski
Sound: Mathias Hefel, Jean-Pierre Gerth, Oscar Van Hoogevest, Jörg Höhne, Dietrich Körner
Production: Vollbid Film GmbH

For forty years, Ulrich Tilgner traveled through the Middle East as a correspondent for GermanTelevision. Now as an older man, in the role of a wistful witness, he revisits the region alongside filmmaker Edgar Hagen. A region tormented by wars, devastated with the active support of the western powers. Afghanistan is the country that Tilger knows best. As he travels, he catches up with former contacts and old friends; for Tilgner, journalism has always meant discovering places and people, creating relationships, telling the facts from the inside. 

The movie – in its Italian premiere at the festival – goes to the past and present conflicts’ “roots of madness2 alternating today’s journey with extensive archive footage that show Tilgner on the job and takes us, besides Afghanistan, to Iraq, to north-eastern Syria in Kurdish territory, to Niger, Greece, Serbia and Switzerland.   

Edgan Hagen. Born in Basel in 1958, he graduated in German philosophy and literature at Freien Universität in Berlin in 1987. In 1989, he started his career as a documentary director. In 1996, he made his long feature film debut with Markus Jura Suisse – The Prodigal Son. His productions explore philosophical, psychological and socio-political themes. From 2010, for ten years, he has been a member of the Swiss Filmmakers Association board of directors. In 2016, he founded the production company Vollbid Film GmbH. 

Partial filmography: Markus Jura Suisse – The Prodigal Son (doc., 1996), Time of the Titans (doc., 2001), Someone Beside You – If You Have a Mind You Can Lose It (doc., 2007), Journey to the Safest Place on Earth (doc., 2013), Who Are We? (doc., 2019), The Roots of Madness (doc., 2026).