“Atlas” by Niccolò Castelli from Italian-speaking canton Ticino, tells the story of a lively young woman named Allegra who has a passion for high mountain climbing. She decides to travel to Morocco to reach the top of the Atlas, but her trip ends abruptly when a man explodes a bomb in a coffee shop and her three friends die in the attack. Unable to overcome the trauma months later she returns to her city, where the encounter with Arad, a young refugee from the Middle East, forces her to confront her perception of reality, her fears and heal her profound interior wounds.

Inspired by the real event of the bombing at Café Argana in Marrakech, Morocco on 28 April 2011, the film reveals the path to mourning, acceptance and healing. 

The film has won Best Actress Award at Taormina International Film Festival and was nominated for the Swiss Film Prize for Best Film and Best Cinematography.

The Week of the Italian Language is celebrated all over the world by Switzerland and Italy, the countries that share Italian as an official language. The event takes place in the third week of October of every year and aims at promoting the Italian language. On this occasion, the Embassy of Switzerland in Jordan will screen the feature film “Atlas” on Monday, 25 October 2021 at the premises of the Royal Film Commission (doors open at 6:30 p.m.).

Multilingualism is part of the Swiss DNA and contributes to Switzerland’s cultural diversity. Italian is one of Switzerland's four national languages. It was declared a national language together with German and French in the Swiss constitution of 1848 while Romansh was added in 1938. Italian is spoken by 8% of the Swiss population as a first language, making it a minority language.

This event is free and open to the public. Spaces are limited. COVID-19 safety measures apply.