We are happy to announce that RUKELI by Alessandro Rak is officially in competition at RIFF – Rome Independent Film Festival 2025 in the Animation Short Competition section.

The short film will be presented to the public in two official screenings.

1 | Friday, November 21, 2025
10:00 pm
Nuovo Cinema Aquila, Hall 1

2 | Wednesday, November 26, 2025
4:30 pm
Nuovo Cinema Aquila, Hall 1

Synopsis
Johann Wilhelm Trollmann, known as Rukeli, becomes the middleweight champion in Nazi Germany: he is the first Romani boxer in the world to win the title. The regime takes it away from him and deports him to the Wittenberge and Neuengamme concentration camps.

In the лагер, Trollmann chooses to die as a champion: he accepts the challenge of a Nazi kapo and knocks him out, symbolically defying the entire system of power.