The San Diego Italian Film Festival kicks off a series of events exploring new Italian documentary with filmmaker and professor Marco Bertozzi.
Marco Bertozzi is among a group of writers who have contributed to the renaissance of Italian documentary by providing both a theoretical framework and active cultural promotion. Bertozzi's documentaries focus on the urban imaginary and cultural identities. His films include "Rimini Lampedusa Italia" (2004); "Appunti romani" (2004); "Il senso degli altri" (2007); "Predappio in Luce" (2008); and "Profughi in Cinecittà" (2012).
On Friday, "Profughi a Cinecittà" ("Refugees in Cinecittà") screens at 7:00pm at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. Following the film, Professor Pasquale Verdicchio, Department. of Literature UCSD, will moderate a roundtable discussion on the new trends in documentary film, of which Marco Bertozzi is a major exponent. Panelists include Director Marco Bertozzi, Professor University IUAV of Venice, Documentary Cinema; Deborah Klochko, PhD Executive Director, MOPA; Professor Clarissa Clò, Director of the Italian Program SDSU; and Professor Loredana Di Martino, Italian Studies USD.
The film was unavailable for preview but the program notes state: "The conversion of Cinecitta', one of Europe's largest movie studios, into a refugee camp is the topic of this thoroughly researched film. The camp of Cinecitta' emerges as a startling phenomenon and a prime allegorical tableau of its time. The film explores the historical conditions at the time of the camp's creation, the magnitude of its population, the duration of its existence and the broader social and political forces that governed its development, until the cinema industry started anew, in 1950, when thousands of refugees became extras in 'Quo Vadis.'"
Marco Bertozzi was at SDSU this morning for "Found Footage and Italian Contemporary Documentary Cinema." On Wednesday, April 11 at 7:00pm, he'll be at the University of San Diego for "Film-making and Italian Cultural Identity." "Rimini, Lampadusa, Italia" will be screened at Warren Auditorium, Mother Rosalie Hill Hall.
He returns to USD on April 12 for "The Contemporary Documentary as Creative Archive." He will show clips from his works and discuss recent developments in the role of documentary, the use of historical and personal archives, and suggest how these might find correspondence in the current debates on "new realism." Program starts at 7:00pm at USD's Visual Arts Performance Space.
Kudos to the San Diego Italian Film Festival for continuing to expand its programming and for always encouraging discussion about its films.
