In collaboration with the McGill University, Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures – Italian Studies, the Italian Cultural Institute of Montréal presents: Re-examining the Long “1950s”: The (Un)Making of the Contemporary Italian Cultural Identity 6.
The objective of the project is to lay the foundation for a reinterpretation of the “long 1950s” as a key phase in the elaboration of the cultural erasures, marginalizations and distortions which constitute the unacknowledged but fundamental underside of contemporary Italian identity. Bringing this underside to light has ethical and political, as well as cultural implications: a deeper and more complex understanding of post-WW II Italy is an essential step in developing a fresh insight into some long-standing and frustrating impasses in contemporary Italian society with respect to issues of class, gender, religious and political ideology, etc.
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Re-examining the Long “1950s”: The (Un)Making of the Contemporary Italian Cultural Identity, 6: Presentation and screening of the film “Caffè Italia” (1985) by Paul Tana (Université du Québec à Montréal).
“Caffè Italia”, released in 1985, is the most successful film by Paul Tana. With two protagonists, Pierre Curzi and Tony Nardi, Tana recounts with strong realism a page of history of Italians in Montreal, where till now is the most vibrant community in the city. The film has earned the recognition of Québec’s best work by specialized critics.
McGill University Screening Room (3475 Peel Street), Friday, January 20, 2017, 5:30 pm.
Paul Tana, born in Ancona in Italy in 1947, arrived with his family in Quebec in 1958. He studied at the Université de Montréal and teaches at the École des Médias Université du Québec à Montréal. He began his film career in the 70s with the production cooperative ACPAV, realizing a long series of short films and memorable films, of which Grand Les enfants (1980), Caffè Italy (1985), La Sarrasine ( 1992) and The Deroute (1998).
For further information: https://thelongfifties.wordpress.com/2017/01/07/italian-migration-and-modernity-in-1950s-montreal/