GRAFTING ROME

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TAG LINE
Botanical grafting as a metaphor for human migrations and cross-cultural identity.
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TECHNICAL DATA

SYNOPSIS
​Original title: Injertos Roma
International title: Grafting Rome
Country of production: Italy / Spain
Year of production: 2025
Length: 32:18
Genre: Documentary: Anthropological / Essayistic / Ethnobotanical / Experimental / Historical-artistic /
Observational / Heritage
Screen: 1:1 into 16:9
Master: Digital 4k (2160 25p)
Color: Color
Shot in: Italy
Original language: English, Italian, and Spanish
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​Three foreign plant species from the countries of origin of Rome’s largest migrant communities are grafted onto plants representative of the city, drawing a parallel between grafting and the challenges of their respective diasporas and social integration. Through biographical testimonies, socioeconomic analyses and historical-artistic references, Grafting Rome is a poetic reflection on human migration and botany, using the graft as an age-old symbol of adaptation and integration.

CREDITS

Script, editing and direction: Paco Cao
Production: Paco Cao
Sponsored by: La Galleria Nazionale, Rome
Postproduction: Fundación Municipal de Cultura de Gijón
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SOCIOLOGY

BOTANY
​Through interviews with Oana Bosca-Malin (Deputy Director of the Romanian Academy in Rome), Charito Basa (Founder of the Association of Filipino Women in Rome) and Bangladeshi chef Safiquor Rahman, Grafting Rome explores the experiences, difficulties and adaptation strategies of the Romanian, Filipino and Bangladeshi communities through three distinct voices that offer multiple and complementary perspectives of the migrant experience. The sociological scope of the documentary addresses the challenges of integration and the ways in which the aforementioned migrant communities have been incorporated into Romanian society.
The selection of the plant species in Grafting Rome embraces both symbolic and scientific criteria. The plants that identify Rome are closely related to classical antiquity, whether it be the founding myth of the city, in which the fig tree plays a central role as a propitiatory symbol, or the god Bacchus, associated with the grapevine and wine. Hence the selection of the Ficus Carica, the scientific name of the fig tree native to the Mediterranean basin, and the Vitis Vinifera Malvasia Puntinata, a grapevine cultivar from the Italian region of Lazio, whose capital is Rome.
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The plants representative of the three largest migrant communities presently settled in Rome were selected by a criterion of botanical affinity to safeguard the success of the grafting. As in the case of Vitis vinifera Victoria, a Romanian vine cultivar. Asian fig trees such as Ficus Benjamina, native to the Philippines, and Ficus Elastica, from Bangladesh, were also selected. Through this process, the documentary not only draws a parallel between botanical grafting and the dynamics of human integration, but also underscores the historical relationship between plant species and the cultural identity of the territory.
In addition to using various historical sources, whether literary, archaeological or pictorial, selection of the plant species incorporated the scientific advice of Falvio Tarquini, a botanist consulted by the Botanical Garden of Rome and professor at the University of La Sapienza, and Valentino Casolo, a botanist who teaches at the University of Udine.

HERITAGE AND ART HISTORY

​Grafting Rome establishes a fruitful dialogue between art, botany and migration, highlighting the symbolic role of nature in the history of art. The fig tree, present in the founding myth of Rome as a protective symbol of good luck, is the protagonist of a famous work by Rubens. treasured by the Capitoline Museums, and highlighted in the documentary. The film also analyzes the importance of the grapevine in Caravaggio’s work. Francesca Cappelletti, director of the Galleria Borghese, reinforces the link between this plant, the imagery associated with the god Bacchus, and Italian Baroque painting, emphasizing the sense of identity and belonging of the plant species used in the project.
The script was also based on interviews with Federica Papi, curator of the Capitoline Museums; Alessandro D’Alessio, director of the Archaeological Park of Ostia Antica; Flaminia Genari Santori, director of the National Galleries of Ancient Art-Barberirni Corsini; as well as art critic and curator Constantino D’Orazio.

HERITAGE AND CULTURAL TOURISM

Filmed in places of significant historical and artistic value, such as the Archaeological Park of Ostia Antica, Palazzo Barberini and the Pietro Canonica Museum, the documentary unfolds the botanical exercise in emblematic spaces that allow us to understand the historical evolution of Rome: Ostia Antica the main port of the city during ancient times; Palazzo Barberini a superb example of Baroque style and ecclesiastical power that hides a secret garden in the back of the building; and Museo Pietro Canonica an architectural model of an artist’s house having a secluded garden with a water well in the center. In other words, three enclaves with different types of vegetation that correspond to three different moments in the history of the city. The choice of these places not only reinforces the discourse of the film, but also highlights its cultural dimension, enriching the historical narrative and enhancing its visual richness, so that the past and present dialogue in multiple directions conceptually.
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The documentary concludes with a view of  Gijón, Spain, opening a new chapter in the development of the project. In this phase, Grafting goes beyond Italy to explore the cultural legacy of migration in another geographical context of the European Union, incorporating emblematic spaces of the Asturian city such as the Museo Villa Romana de Veranes, the Jardín Botánico Atlántico, and the Muséu del Pueblu d’Asturies.

PRESENT AND FUTURE PROJECTION OF THE PROJECT

Grafting Rome is the first chapter of an expanding project. Conceived as an ongoing series that can be explored in other locations, the documentary proposes an easily replicable methodology that can be deployed in different contexts, further exploring the plant metaphor in relation to migratory movements in distinct cultural and geographical settings.

The expansion of the project to the Spanish city of Gijón confirms its international viability and its potential to generate new institutional collaborations. The Gijón phase takes its first steps in the Museo Villa Romana de Veranes, part of the archaeological museum complex with Roman foundations in Gijón. A fig tree and a local chestnut cultivar are planted in this enclave. The latter species is grafted with a Romanian chestnut cultivar, as the Romanian community is one of the most numerous settled in Gijón. The process is still in progress, and the addition of each new plant species and corresponding migrant community will yield distinct results, adding nuance to the metaphor on which the project is based.  
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Initially commissioned by the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderno e Contemporaneo di Roma, Grafting Rome is supported by Italian institutions such as the Orto Botanico di Roma, the Parco Archeologico di Ostia Antica, the Palazzo Barberini, the Museo Pietro Canonica, the Galleria Borghese, the Musei Capitolini, as well as the Ministerio dei Bieni Culturali, among others.

LINKS TO INSTITUTIONS AND ALIGNMENT WITH CONTEMPORARY TRENDS

​The project’s expansion in Gijón, is suported by the Fundación Municipal de Cultura, Educación y Universidad Popular de Gijón/Xixón and includes the participation of local immigrant organizations, as well as by national and international entities specializing in heritage and/or botany, such as the Alliance of Biodiversity International and CIAT.
In addition, Grafting Rome dialogues with current trends in art and research on human migrations, proposing an interdisciplinary approach that places it at the crossroads among contemporary art, identity studies and urban ecology.