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Italian Origins (8)
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ArrivalDonald Ginsberg 1957 30 minThis drama portrays an immigrant family and the mingled feelings of hope and despair that characterize their life in a strange land. An Italian wife joins her husband in a large Canadian city. After two years in Canada the husband feels his dream of a better life is close to realization, but his wife feels that differences of language and custom are insurmountable. How such feelings are dispelled by simple gestures of friendship from Canadian-born neighbours gives a heartening conclusion to the film. -
AntonioTony Ianzelo 1966 27 minThe story of an Italian immigrant, a widower living alone with his memories, his Bible and Dante, which he learned to read in English. In this black-and-white film from 1966 he talks about his past, his children and of good times and bad. What he tells and what the camera shows of his life make a warm, human portrait of an aging man who chooses freedom and independence even though it sometimes means solitude.
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EnigmaticoDavid Mortin & Patricia Fogliato 1995 51 minInterweaving poetry, painting, photography, music and sculpture, this feature documentary is an innovative look at the lives and work of Canadian men and women artists of Italian origin. Broaching issues of identity and culture, the film explores the relationship between the immigrant experience and the creative process.
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A Great Little ArtistMartin Defalco 1973 28 minA fictionalized account of a day in the life of members of an Italian community in Canada.
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Mediterraneo Sempre - Mediterranean ForeverNicola Zavaglia 2000 1 h 12 minThis feature documentary explores the roots and communities of the Italian immigrants who have made Montreal their home across the 20th century. Starting from a village in Calabria, the filmmaker recounts the saga of Italian immigrants and presents a chapter from the history of his own community. Wherever the tides of immigration carried them, the exiled descendants of Leonardo and Michelangelo have re-created a Mediterranean of the heart, to which they turn to reconnect with their roots.
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One Sunday in CanadaGilles Carle 1961 27 minOne Sunday in Canada visits an Italian community in the northwest sector of Montreal, where about half of the city's 150,000 Italians live. In the new suburbs where they are settling, the streets may have names like Venice, Naples, Genoa; and wherever men and women gather, there is the ebullience characteristic of the Latin. This is a Sunday on which special observances are held at the Italian church of Madonna della Difesa, and it is also the Sunday when Montreal's Cantalia soccer team challenges Toronto's Italia. A very human story of people adapting to life in a new environment.
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SoccerShelah Reljic 1974 27 minThis documentary short shines a light on British Columbia’s soccer culture. With a special focus on the successful Vancouver Italia team, the film celebrates the province’s most popular sport.
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The VisitJohn Kemeny 1964 27 minIt takes a sentimental return to Italy to convince Francesco Iamundo that he belongs in Canada, his adopted land. In telling the story of his pilgrimage to his homeland, the film presents a vivid contrast of two worlds--the sunny Italy that must live forever in the heart of the expatriate, and the North America that draws and holds the immigrant.
