Pure Unknown: Fighting for the right to be identified in death

An Italian forensic anthropologist identifies bodies of unknown people and campaigns for their right to be identified.

Every night nameless bodies are brought to Dr Cristina Cattaneo’s autopsy room. She calls them the “Pure Unknown”. These unidentified people often belong to the fringes of society – they could be homeless people, sex workers or runaway teenagers. In recent years, more of them are migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea and washed up on Italian shores. With the growing numbers, no one seems concerned about their right to dignity. But Cristina decides to take her fight for their right to be identified in law to the European Parliament. Pure Unknown is a documentary film by Valentina Cicogna and Mattia Colombo.