11° FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE CINEMA GIOVANI
Happy Returns
MARZO 1973 I GIORNI DELLA FIAT-Fatti e immagini di una lotta operaia
Country: Italy
Year: 1993
Duration: 35'
In March, 1973, the workers at FiatTurin "occupied" the Mirafiori plant for about a week, after the negotiations for the renewal of the autoworkers' contract had broken off. This form of struggle rose up spontaneously out of the workers. To a certain extent, it was the harvesting and distillation of the previous experiences that workers' community had gone through beginning with the spring of 1969. In its radicalness and determination, this struggle came to leapfrog the union organizations themselves. The direction and organization of this type of struggle was lead mainly by the delegates and workers' avantgardes that harked back to the left wing of the unions and nonparliamentary political groups, particularly Lotta Continua. The main characteristic of this occupation was the absolute novelty of its strategies and objectives, as opposed to previous workers' struggles of this type. There was no longer an occupation that, nevertheless, guaranteed work and production. Instead, there were "chairpeople" at the gates to prevent the supply and shipment of products and thereby to enforce the workers' control over the plant and the total block of production.
"19731993 Twenty years later we filmed an interview with one of the same workers who had been interviewed twenty years before during the days of struggle. We reused and reedited films shot in March 1973. Thus through the recollections and witnessing of a leader of this struggle, we drew up a commentary on the events and images from 'those days at Fiat'." (Armando Ceste)
Biography
film director
Armando Ceste
Armando Ceste (Turin, 1942), after several experiences in underground cinema (his first short film, La lezione, was screened at the Festival del Cinema Indipendente Italiano in 1969 in Turin), in the beginning of the 70's he is one of the founders of Collettivo Cinema Militante in Turin. In the last years he has made several works, some of them in collaboration with the Archivio Audiovisivo del movimento Operaio e Demovratico in Rome. He has been artistic director at Valsusa FilmFest, film festival on the themes of historic memory and environment defense.
FILMOGRAFIA
La lezione (1969), I migliori anni della nostra vita (1987), Donato (1987), Nosferatu, ogni notte di fronte a me (1988), Das Rastel einer Strasse (1988), Morire d'amore (1988), Recita (1990), L'ultimo nastro (1991), Lontano dal golfo (1991), Jean-Marie Straub, la resistenza del cinema (1991), Finale di partita (1992), Marzo 1973 - I giorni della Fiat (1993), Due o tre cose (1994), Aria di golpe (1994), Milano 25 aprile (1994), Mai tardi (1996), Anna Karina. Il volto della Nouvelle Vague (1996), Le parole sono importanti (1996), Jean-Marie Straub. Lezione di cinema (1998), Viaggio alla fine del mondo (dove le storie vanno a finire) (1998), Rosso/Askatasuna (a proposito di un primo maggio di guerra) (1999), Romeo & Giulietta. Il gioco del film (2000), Abdellah e i suoi fratelli (2000), Erri De Luca. Dopo Genova (filastrocche sgangherate) (2001), Libera terra (2002), Fiatamlet (2003) Variazioni (doc, 2004).
Cast
& Credits
Director: Armando Ceste.
Director of photography: Angelo Santovito.
Sound: Paolo Favaro.
Editor: Pier Milanese, Angelo Eikon.
Cast: Riccardo Braghin.
Production company: AC/ Cinema e Video, Torino, in collaborazione con l'Archivio Audiovisivo del Movimento Operaio e Democratico, Roma.
Italian distribution: AC/ Cinema e Video, via Accademia Albertina 10, 10123 Torino, tel. +39-011-8170250.
Director of photography: Angelo Santovito.
Sound: Paolo Favaro.
Editor: Pier Milanese, Angelo Eikon.
Cast: Riccardo Braghin.
Production company: AC/ Cinema e Video, Torino, in collaborazione con l'Archivio Audiovisivo del Movimento Operaio e Democratico, Roma.
Italian distribution: AC/ Cinema e Video, via Accademia Albertina 10, 10123 Torino, tel. +39-011-8170250.