Memorabilia

A newspaper kept safe, a football sticker found again, a ball among the shelves: sporting history can also inhabit objects that someone chooses not to throw away. Memorabilia, an Italian documentary by Domenico G. S. Parrino submitted to the International Sport Film Festival 2026, enters the life of a collector and Bologna supporter. In 13 minutes and 48 seconds, it follows a passion that fills the rooms of a home and intertwines with a father's memories of his son.

The collection takes shape through everyday activities. The protagonist searches for, organises and arranges books, newspapers, stickers and documents; he works with paper, glue and a ruler, visits a market and bargains with a seller. The account moves from domestic interiors to an exhibition, where photographs and postcards are arranged for others to see. Collecting emerges as work involving gestures, decisions and opportunities for exchange, as well as objects accumulated over time.

Bologna is the starting point for an interest that later extends to Italy's national team, basketball and motorcycles. The collection bears the names of Lamberto and Luca Bertozzi and has a public presence through the Museo Bologna Calcio website, which brings together digitised materials, books and football stickers. Its contribution to the city's sporting memory predates the film: in 2014, Bologna FC reported that statistics and memorabilia from the collection had been used in Fabio Campisi's book about Amedeo Biavati.

Alongside this documentary dimension is the life of a family. One anecdote concerns the Bologna medallion the children wore as they fell asleep, leaving the symbol's impression on their skin the next morning. Supporting a team enters memories of home, visits to the stadium and the stories attached to an object. Hands working on the materials and shelves packed with items alternate with the pitch and the stands: different places where the same passion is preserved and shared.

Born in Bologna, Parrino studied at DAMS and CITEM at the University of Bologna and developed experience in editing and postproduction. In 2018, he made the short documentary Cent'anni di Corsa, part of a filmmaking path attentive to sport and local stories. On Memorabilia, he is responsible for direction, writing, production and cinematography; Mattia Biancucci is the editor. The film is produced by femorelento and distributed by Sayonara Film.

The film's premise brings together two ways of remembering: preserving a record of sporting life and recounting what it means to a family. Between searching at the market and organising the archive, a question also arises about passing these materials on to others. What travels with a photograph, a newspaper cutting or a keepsake? Memorabilia introduces this story through the habits of someone who continues to collect them.