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, 11.
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, 11: “Censoring Documentary in 1950s Italy”, a lecture by Marco Bertozzi, Università Iuav di Venezia.
Bertozzi will make reference to a history documentary in Italy. Will speak about the circumstances under which the Italian national broadcasting company RAI has come into contact with the Danish filmmaker Joris Ivens, who had voiced his interest in the production of a documentary in the social and cultural impact of mass industrialization of the country in the 50’s. Afterwards will explain the difficulties encountered in shooting the documentary and the increasingly obvious differences of opinion between the director and among its institutional sponsors, differences which eventually led to a breakdown of the partnership. The documentary was broadcasted by RAI only once and then virtually disappeared from circulation. Finally, Bertozzi will reflect on the meaning of the episode as proof of what it could not have transmitted on screens in Italy in the ’50s.
Tuesday April 4th, 2017 – 5:30 pm
McGill University, Wendy Patrick Room, Wilson Hall,
3506 University Street,
Presentation will be in English – Free admission
Marco Bertozzi is a figure internationally recognized in the Italian panorama of the production of documentaries. His “History of Italian documentary: Images and other cultural cinema” (Venice, Marsilio 2008) is the one deep study devoted to documentary style in Italy. He was in Montreal on numerous occasions and in 2008, with McGill University, he took part in the conference “Prises de rue / Street Takes”, held at the Cinémathèque québécoise in Montreal, from Project on European Cinema. His knowledge in the Italian film tradition and the cinema of the 50s (A crucial period for Italian films) makes it the ideal figure for this event. He is currently collaborating with Daniele Vicari on a documentary production about Italian contemporary.
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