Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot


Enzo Ceccotti, a small-time crook from the outskirts of Rome, escapes from the cops by way of the Tiber River. While in the water, he steps onto a toxic waste drum and emerges imbued with super powers. A porn-addicted, pudding-eater introvert, he’s sure his new capabilities will do wonders for his life of crime, but that all changes when he meets Alessia, who’s convinced he has a higher mission, as being the hero from the famous Japanese anime, Steel Jeeg.


Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot (They Call me Jeeg), written with Nicola Guaglianone, is Gabriele Mainetti’s first feature film, starring Claudio Santamaria, Luca Marinelli and Ilenia Pastorelli. Hitting the 10th Rome Film Fest as a part of the Official Selection, it was welcomed like a breath of fresh air for its ability to mix genres, invent and dare. It is an urban fairy tale that is both entertaining and melancholic, ruthless and funny, as it combines superhero tropes with Italian social and political ills.