ITALY SENDS US A GIFT – “CINEMA SUD”


Italy gives the world culture, and everyone knows how to get it. We wear it, we see it, we hear it, we feel it, we smell it, we hunger to drive it, and when we’re very lucky, we eat it. But there’s one part of Italian culture that remains vague and misty like a cloud on the far horizon for a desert town. Have you seen an Italian film recently?

Italian cinema, as important as it has been around the world, as much influence as it’s had on generations of filmmakers, now remains almost entirely hidden, and if it isn’t hidden, it’s certainly obscured by both the glory of its own past as well as the overwhelming marketing of the large corporate culture machines that insist on blockbusters, those big screen weapons of mass destruction.

And that is a shame for those of us who adore all things Italian. The cinema of Italy produces gorgeous images, lush scenes, acting that is always moving and expressive. And while the themes of this national cinema are often dire, frequently ending in ways we Americans would see as downbeat, the serious efforts by their filmmakers to open up all Italian culture to discussion means that very little is off limits, and this is a cinema that encourages that most favorite of all Italian pastimes, heated café discussions lubricated by coffee or wine in some café.

The Italians share a strong national pride in its filmmakers, and like to think that if only their voices could be heard on other continents, other audiences would share this pride and pleasure. Several years ago, at the highest levels of the Italian government, there was a clever recognition that the products of the younger generation of filmmakers can open up to people around the world the charm of Italy, and also provoke debate, particularly about some less well known regions of the Bel Paese.

Wanting to get past the overly commercial global distribution networks that ignore this extraordinary production, the Italian government decided in 2004 to send a huge gift around the world. While the rest of us were trying to understand globalization, the Italians were, of necessity, and with some background in this, leaping headfirst into the world arena. And it is useful to remember that this decision was being made at the same time that the Italian government was globalizing Italian politics by creating elected seats to represent overseas areas. North America now has its own elected senator and Members of Parliament to represent their interests in Rome. So, as so many times before, the Italians decided to go around the world.

What came out of Rome was an amazing gift, a collection of some of the best cinematic work done in Italy recently, a whole new generation of young filmmakers represented, and dealing with themes which are of immense interest to all of us, but especially to those of Italian descent – these films are entirely focused on the lives, places, problems and joys of Southern Italy, that part of the country which gave us almost 80% of our Italian immigrants before 1960.

The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting through its Consular Offices and its international network of Italian Cultural Institutes, assembled and is distributing a collection of theatrical release films that would make even old Saint Nick (who is Italian, by the way – he’s buried in Bari, Italy) feel amazed. And like the mythical passage of the Jolly Old Saint Nicola, this collection has been winging its way around the world now for two years.

Called “Cinema Sud” because it shows life in the southern Italian states (Campania, Sicily, Sardinia, Puglia, Basilicata, and Calabria), these delicious films are a joy, even when they are at their darkest. And while the purpose of this collection is to help the whole world understand better this ancient and turbulent region, it is also for many of us a mind-blowing introduction to the work of younger filmmakers who are less preoccupied with psychology than with crime, less fascinated by existential crises than by human relationships, less committed to fantasy and more ardent about values.
This series began when the Ministry sent off some important documentaries to Martin Scorsese for the New York City Tribeca Film Festival in 2005. The collection has been travelling ever since. San Diego will be the last city in the world to receive this gift, which will be flown in from New Zealand. An enterprising group of citizens, who pledge allegiance to the U.S. but whose hearts (and appetites) remain in Italy, snagged this collection in the very last days of its life. They grabbed a live wire, and you too can join in the jolting experience.

The Museum of Photographic Arts, in Balboa Park, San Diego, has generously partnered with the local organizers and the Italian government by providing a luscious venue for what will be the first Italian Film Festival in San Diego. The series will begin Friday, Oct. 12, and continue through Thursday, Oct. 25. Cinema Sud in San Diego is being supported by several local schools, businesses and Italian clubs, notable among them UCSD (Dept. of Literature, IICAS European Studies, Visual Arts), Cal State Long Beach Italian Studies, San Diego State University Italian Studies, The House of Italy and the Italian Community Center, and it is organized under the auspices of the Italian American Arts and Culture Association of San Diego.

While entry to all films is free to the public, the organizers, volunteers all, are counting on donations at the door. The film schedule and film descriptions will be available at the Museum of Photographic Arts website (www.mopa.org) and will be published and posted by mid-September. We invite everyone to join in. This is a unique opportunity, one we probably will not ever see again. A small caution: The MoPA theater, like the old Cinema Paradiso, is intimate, so while everyone is invited, seating is limited.

For questions or more information, please call or write:

Joseph Annino 858 456 1735, email: Anninoj@sbcglobal.net
Victor Laruccia 619 521 0877, email: jamvic@cox.net
Roberto Ruocco 619 517 1406, email: ruocco2@sbcglobal.net