Italian Documentary Screening: “Three Portraits” & “The Fiancée

Ottawa Italian Week presents a screening of two short documentaries:
– Three Portraits of Italomontrealesi of Yesterday and Today
– The Fiancée

The screenings will be followed by a discussion with the three filmmakers.

Get tickets HERE.

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Produced by the Italian Institute of Culture in Montréal and the École des Médias of the Université du Québec à Montréal, “Three Portraits” is a tale of three stories of Italians in Montréal:

1-“L’albero di fichi / The Fig Tree” by Paul Tana (28 min.)

A Mediterranean legend tells that in the Garden of Eden the tree of knowledge was the fig tree. Against all odds, Italian immigrants who arrived to Montréal in the fifties and the sixties found a way to grow it in their backyards. They wanted so much to have with them, here, a piece of paradise that they outwitted even our harsh winter.

2-“Giorni migliori / Better Days” by Giovanni Princigalli (24 min.)

Three stories of young Italian immigrants in Montreal: Barbara, who lives with Ihab, a Palestinian from Syria; Luca, a talented researcher who lives with his partner Marco, and Claudia and Publio who have three children and a pizzeria.

3-“Il tempo di un caffè / Coffee Time” by Roberto Zorfini (15 min.)

Five Italians discuss their experiences in Canada over coffee.

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“The Fiancée” by Giovanni Princigalli (12 min., fiction, 2018)

On a summer Sunday in Montréal, Carolina, an eighty-year-old Italian meets Yolaine, a thirty-year-old Cuban. In the 1950s, Carolina was married to an Italian-Québécois. Yolaine came to Montréal to join Frank, another Italian-Québécois. While it is too late for Carolina to alter her own destiny, she might be able to have an impact on Yolaine’s.

Filmmaker Biographies:

Paul Tana: Born in Italy, fimmaker Paul Tana studied literature at the Université du Québec à Montréal and is currently teaching film at the École des Médias of the Université du Québec à Montréal. He began his film career in the 1970s. Some of his work include Grand Les enfants (1980), Caffè Italia, Montréal (1985), La Sarrasine (1992), and La Déroute (1998). https://vucavu.com/en/artists/t/paul-tana

Giovanni Princigalli: Trained as a documentary filmmaker in Paris and Italy, Giovanni Princigalli studied cinema at the Université de Montréal and taught Italian cinema at McGill University, and scriptwriting at the Université de Montréal. Some of his work include The Fiancée (2018), Les fleur à la fenêtre (2010), and Ho fatto il mio coraggio (2009). https://reals.quebec/giovanniprincigalli

Roberto Zorfini: Italian director Roberto Zorfini graduated from the Roberto Rossellini Institute for Cinematography and Television in Rome. He has more than 20 years of experience in video projects and has worked for almost a decade with Italian television RAI. In 2013, his short film Imperfetto Equilibrio won a special award at the Italian Contemporary Film Festival (Toronto). In Canada, Roberto produced commercials for several companies and worked as creative director for Panoramitalia. After working as an author for RAI World, he won the first prize in 2014 at the 48 Hour Film Project in Ottawa with the short film Alice. https://vimeo.com/zorfini

General Information:

Documentaries are in Italian and French, with English subtitles

Doors open at 7pm

FREE parking on site.