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April 29 to May 9, 2021
The Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto is pleased to co-present the Italian line-up at the 2021 online edition of Toronto's Hot Docs Festival. THE ROSSELLINIS Online Film Screening and Q&A Revered as one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century, Roberto Rossellini left an indelible mark on cinema and an enormous inheritance of family conflict. The Rossellinis is a compelling look inside a complicated cinema dynasty forced into group therapy by one of their own. With never-before-seen archival footage and an absorbing conversation with his famed aunt, actress Isabella Rossellini, this family drama offers an abundance of compelling insights into their relationships, revealing old secrets and tragic moments in their lives. Available April 29 - May 9, 2021 click here to purchase tickets BLOOM UP - A SWINGER COUPLE STORY Online Film Screening and Q&A Hermes and Betta are a middle-aged Italian couple who run the neighbourhood pet store by day, but by night arrange extravagant sexual encounters with multiple partners. As swingers, this loving and deeply entwined couple allows one another to freely explore their desires and sexual cravings with trust and respect. With uncanny beauty in the camerawork, the director and cinematographer Mauro Russo Rouge's lens leaves nothing to the imagination. Up close and personal, we plunge into the back rooms of clubs, the intimacy of homes and the wide-open spaces of the night skies, bearing witness to the couple's carnal pursuits. But even the deepest relationships and strongest connections are at times tested. Will their hunger for the taste of others ultimately drive a wedge between them? Available April 29 - May 9, 2021 click here to purchase tickets MOLECULES Online Film Screening In February 2020, filmmaker Andrea Segre was in Venice when a still-mysterious virus froze the city before his eyes. Piazza San Marco emptied, the logger-jammed Grand Canal went still, and spaces filled instead with a strange, hollow quiet. Lockdown had given the town back to nature and returned something unexpected to Segre as well—memories of his late father, Ulderico. Raised in Venice, he was as reserved in his career as a molecular physicist as he was with his children. Using old Super 8 family films and an unanswered letter he wrote to his father decades earlier, Segre's captivating investigation into his father's silences and absences beautifully dissolve into the emptiness of Venice itself. Through this arrested landscape stripped down to its natural frailties and lack of solidity, Segre unearths the roots of his father's and his own unease. Capturing an extraordinary experience for a city and for a son, Molecules makes real those things one can't see but knows exist. Available April 29 - May 9, 2021 click here to purchase tickets WE ARE THE THOUSAND Online Film Screening and Q&A The spirit and culture of rock 'n' roll can always be traced back to the fans. For a group of Italian friends, their passion for this genre of music sparked a novel idea: they put a call out to gather a thousand musicians to play music together, in hopes of coaxing the iconic band Foo Fighters to come to perform a concert in their small town. One of the most curious and ambitious "band wanted" signs ever turns out to be a bigger success than its organizers dreamed. The Rockin' 1000 group's collective rendition of "Learn to Fly" goes massively viral, catching the eye of Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl himself. What started out as a shot in the dark ends up creating literally the largest rock band in the world, showcasing just how much music can unite and bring joy to all those who are willing to listen. Available April 29 - May 9, 2021 click here to purchase tickets
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 Extended to December 15, 2021
The Italian Cultural Institute Toronto is pleased to support the participation of Montreal-born Italian artist Cindi Emond at the 2021 edition of the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival. The virtual photography exhibit For All The “I Love You’s”, We Forgot To Say, is also sponsored by the Canadian Embassy in Rome. Shot in Abruzzo, Italy in the abandoned village of Frattura Vecchia devastated by an earthquake in 1915, this series documents how the histories of migration to escape the poverty and hardships of central and southern Italian towns are deeply felt to this day. Focusing on the resilience of remote rural communities facing harsh conditions, adversity and the complexity of their relationship with the land, the series examines Italian heritage, the persistence of cultural traditions and national identity. CLICK HERE TO GO TO CONTACT FESTIVAL CLICK HERE TO GO TO VIRTUAL EXHIBITION  May 6 at 5:30 pm (PDT)
A virtual conversation with Adriana A. Davies who will discuss her new book From Sojourners to Citizens: Alberta's Italian History. Co-presented by Friends of Royal Alberta Museum Society & Edmonton Heritage Council. Please join us for a discussion with Adriana A. Davies to be followed by a live audience Q & A. Bringing to life the untold story of Italian immigrants in Alberta from the 1880s to the present. From Sojourners to Citizens: Alberta's Italian History places Italian immigrants in the narrative of province building from work on railways, mines and other industries to breaking the land for agriculture. Oral history excerpts allow the men, women and children to speak for themselves. What emerges is an unquenchable desire to make good, and overcome intolerable working conditions and discrimination, which culminated with enemy alien designation and internment during the Second World War. The book also provides an exploration of the impact of Government of Canada’s multicultural policy on the process of assimilation for the post-war influx of immigrants. It offers a prototype of an immigrant community’s movement from marginalization to the mainstream. About the Author Adriana A. Davies was born in Grimaldi, Cosenza, Italy and grew up in Canada. She received B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Alberta, and a Ph.D. from the University of London, England. For more than 40 years, she has worked as a researcher, writer, editor, lecturer, executive director and curator in England and Canada. Professional accomplishments include: Science and Technology Editor, The Canadian Encyclopedia; Executive Director, Alberta Museums Association; and creator and Editor-in-Chief of the Alberta Online Encyclopedia. In 2009, the 84 multimedia websites were gifted to the University of Alberta. In 2020, Adriana Davies was the inaugural recipient of the Edmonton Heritage Council Heritage Writers’ Reserve Award. Dr. Davies' accomplishments include From Realism to Abstraction: The Art of J. B. Taylor (2014); The Rise and Fall of Emilio Picariello (2016); and the anthology The Frontier of Patriotism: Alberta and the First World War (2016). From Sojourners to Citizens: Alberta’s Italian History (Guernica 2021) places Italian immigrants in the narrative of Canadian nation building. NOTE: Adriana Davies is also on the Advisory Committee of KCIC's Il Nostro Lascito Project About the image in the banner: Detail of a passport belonging to Franca (Veltri) Cavaliere including sons Paul (left) and Rodolfo (Rudy) (right). Photo courtesy of Rudy and Rita Cavaliere. Yesterday, Prime Minister Trudeau announced he would issue a formal apology to Italian-Canadians for their treatment during the Second World War. The full story from Canadian Press follows below.
Here in the Okanagan, while there was certainly mistreatment of local Italians, it was noticeably less than in other centres. In BC, 55 Canadian Italians were sent to internment camps, first at Kananaskis in Alberta and later Petawawa in Ontario. The majority of these were from Vancouver. In the Okanagan Valley, there was only one internee from Summerland. Many local Italians were registered as enemy aliens, however and had to report to the RCMP monthly. It was also during the War that Kelowna's first Italian Club ceased holding meetings. We will be exploring these themes further in upcoming videos from Il Nostro Lascito | Our Legacy. For more on the Internment and the story of local Italians during World War II, you can download the Between Neighbours Presentation that was given at the club in 2019. You can also go to this page to find out more. From The Canadian Press OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will issue a formal apology next month for the treatment of Italian-Canadians during the Second World War. The government said in a news release that 600 Italian-Canadian men were interned in camps in Canada after Italy allied with Germany and joined the war in 1940. Some 31,000 other Italian-Canadians were declared enemy aliens. Trudeau told the House of Commons Wednesday that his government "will right these wrongs" by issuing a formal apology in May. In 1988, Canada formally apologized and offered $300 million in compensation to Japanese-Canadians, 22,000 of whom were interned in camps during the Second World War. Trudeau did not say whether there will be compensation for Italian-Canadians. He announced plans for the apology in response to a question Wednesday from Liberal MP Angelo Iacono. "During the Second World War, hundreds of Italian-Canadians were interned for the simple reason that they were of Italian heritage," Iacono told the Commons. "Parents were taken away from their homes, leaving children without their fathers in many cases and families without a paycheque to put food on their tables. Lives and careers, businesses and reputations were interrupted and ruined, and yet no one was held responsible. "Italian Canadians have lived with these memories for many years and they deserve closure." Trudeau replied that Canadians of Italian heritage "deal with ongoing discrimination related to mistakes made by our governments of the past that continue to affect them to this day." "I'm proud to stand up and say that our government will right these wrongs with a formal apology in the month of May." The government's news release said that in 1939, the Defence of Canada Regulations gave the justice minister the right to intern, seize property and limit activities of Canadian residents born in countries that were at war with Canada. The regulations clearly targeted Canadians' fear of "the foreign element," and not a single person was ever charged with any crime, the release said. In 2018, the RCMP issued a statement of regret for their involvement in the internment. The government's formal apology will pay tribute to and honour the families of each of the 600 interned as an act of respect and an acknowledgment that an injustice happened, the release said. Canada is home to over 1.6 million Canadians of Italian origin, one of the largest Italian diasporas in the world, and they have made immeasurable contributions to the social, cultural and economic fabric of the country, the release added. A joint statement from 10 Italian-Canadian members of Parliament, including Justice Minister David Lametti and Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino, said many residents suffered irrevocable harm. "They may have been Italian by heritage, but they were Canadians first. We as Italian Members of Parliament thank those members before us who brought attention to this injustice and helped bring this apology to fruition for these families in our Italian-Canadian communities." This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2021. April 22, 6:30 pm on Zoom
About the Event From Orpheus and Eurydice, Virgil’s Aristaeus, Ovid’s Metamorphoses up to Homer’s Odyssey & to the over 50 other different versions of the journey of a man through the three Realms – Inferno, Purgatory & Paradise (including Bonvesin de la Riva’s Libro delle Tre Scritture) – the myth of a man who has to face an initiating and painful mystical travel in the afterlife is a recurring theme in the entire Western literature. Dante was the first writer to depict human beings as the products of a specific time, place & circumstance as opposed to mythic archetypes or a collection of vices and virtues: therefore it could be rightly said that Dante has actually started all the modern fiction. From that assumption comes the everlasting charm & the evergreen appeal of the adventures of Dante’s journey as a still powerful magnet that can everlastingly gain an incredible interest all over the world: from popular videogames (Dante’s Inferno) to cartoons & movies… the journey of a hero in Hell is still the most wonderful, modern & relevant story to be told. Homer’s Odyssey (750 BC), Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy (1320 AD) & Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979 AD) are more tightly connected than what we think: the concept of “νόστος” (nostos) that together with “ἄλγος” (algos) creates the sense of “nostalgia” or the unspeakable longing to an ideal & primeval place, the travel through our own fears & inner monsters as an initiating passage to a different level of knowledge & conscience, the tale of our earthly journey with all its madness, its pain and its pleasure… those are the key, immortal elements that keep the human’s Western narrative fatally tied to the concept of infinite journey. FREE ADMISSION FOR MEMBERS $10 fee for non-members Become a member! Annual membership $30.00 – See membership benefits here How to register: RSVP here to receive the Zoom link Send e-transfer to info@dantesocietybc.ca For more info: www.dantesocietybc.ca/cultural-events Italian filmmaker Max Leonida started very early (1992) to work as a writer, actor & director while he was studying Literature & Philosophy at the Catholic University of Milan.
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