To mark 150 years of Italian Unification the Istituto Italiano di Cultura requests the pleasure of your company at the screening of a series of Italian historical films with English subtitles L’Unita’ d’Italia (Unification of Italy) presented by Dr. George Gona of the Department of History – University of Nairobi
Dates: April 15-17, 2011
Venue: Louis Leakey Auditorium, National Museum of Kenya
Time: Friday 6pm and weekend at 4pm & 6pm
Entrance: Free
Programme:
15.4.11 – 6pm – Historical Introduced by Dr. George Gona with a documentary on Giuseppe Garibaldi / followed by – 1860: I mille di Garibaldi (1860: Garibaldi’s thousand men) directed by A. Blasetti
16.4.11 – 4pm – Allonsanfan (Allonsanfàn) directed by P. & V. Taviani
16.4.11 – 6pm – San Michele aveva un gallo (St. Michael had a rooster) directed by P. & V. Taviani
17.4.11 – 4pm – Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) directed by Luchino Visconti
Friday, 15th April 2011 (6pm)
Historical introduction by Dr. George Gona with the documentary: Giuseppe Garibaldi: Il diavolo rosso (Giuseppe Garibaldi: the red devil)
Documentary by: Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Rome
Running time: Excerpts only (English subtitles)
Documentary based on the historical events that led to the unification of Italy.
Followed by:
1860: I mille di Garibaldi (1936) (1860: Garibaldi’s thousand men)
Directed by: Alessandro Blasetti
Starring: Giuseppe Gulino, Aida Bellia, Gianfranco Giachetti, Mario Ferrari, Maria Denis
Running time: Excerpts only
Drama, History (English subtitles)
“1860” is considered by many, even to this day, as the forerunner of the long season of Italian neorealism.
The story is the harried attempt of a Sicilian partisan, as part of the risorgimento, to reach Garibaldi’s headquarters in Northern Italy, and to petition the revered revolutionary to rescue part of his besieged land. Along the way, the peasant hero encounters many colourful Italians, differing in class and age, and holding political opinions of every type.
There is a key train scene, and the film ends on the battlefield, Italian unification a success, despite brutal losses
Saturday, 16th April 2011 (4pm)
Allonsanfan (1974) (Allonsanfàn)
A brief introduction by Dr. George Gona
Directed by: Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Lea Massari, Minsy Farmer
Running time: 110 minutes
Drama, History (English subtitles)
The political prisoner Fulvio Imbriani is released ill from prison and the authorities expect to find his rebel friends though him. However, he returns to his family’s real state and recovers his health with his siblings. When his lover Charlotte unexpectedly arrives Fulvio’s his sister overhears her saying that their friends would be arriving the next morning and calls the authorities. The soldiers dispose of a great number of revolutionaries but Fulvio escapes with Charlotte who is fatally shot in the back. Fulvio travels with his comrades but with no enthusiasm…
Saturday, 16th April 2011 (6pm)
San Michele aveva un Gallo (1972) (Saint Michael had a rooster)
A brief introduction by Dr. George Gona
Directed by: Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
Starring: Giulio Brogi, Daniele Dublino, Renato Cestie’
Running time: 90 minutes
Drama, History (English subtitles)
Anarchism, socialism, anarcho-socialism: there were enough different varieties of these three political philosophies to fuel hundreds of political movements in late 19th-century Europe. This Italian film looks at the life of one committed radical anarchist from this period. Giulio Manieri is true to his principles and his cause, and he attempts to get a revolution going in a small provincial town. The people, alas, are apathetic, and instead of instigating a revolution, Giulio finds himself imprisoned in solitary confinement for 10 years. When he is transferred to group imprisonment and finally meets contemporary political prisoners, they have nothing but disdain for his beliefs. Their disagreements are unimportant when it becomes clear that an even more radical scheme is brewing.
Sunday, 17th April 2011 (4pm)
Il Gattopardo (1963) (The Leopard)
A brief introduction by Dr. George Gona
Directed by: Luchino Visconti
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon, Paolo Stoppa, Rina Morelli
Running time: 187 minutes
Drama, History, Romance, War (English subtitles)
In the 1860s, a dying aristocracy struggles to maintain itself against a harsh Sicilian landscape. The film traces with a slow and deliberate rhythm the waning of the noble home of Fabrizio Corbero, Prince of Salina (the Leopard) and the corresponding rise to eminence of the enormously wealthy ex-peasant Don Calogero Sedara. The prince himself refuses to take active steps to halt the decline of his personal fortunes or to help build a new Sicily but his nephew Tancredi, Prince of Falconeri swims with the tide and assures his own position by marrying Don Calogero’s
beautiful daughter Angelica. The climatic scene is the sumptuous forty-minute ball, where Tancredi introduces Angelica to society.
AWARDS
• Oscar nominee for: best costume
• Golden Palm Award to Luchino Visconti
• David Award for: Best production
• Silver Ribbon Awards for:
• Best Cinematography, Best costume design, Best production design.
• San Jordi Awards: Special Award to Luchino Visconti, Best foreign film.
