20° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL
Italian Spotting 2002

Storie di lotte e deportazione

Stories of struggle and deportation

by Giovanna Boursier, Pierfranco Milanese

Country: Italy, USA

Year: 2002

Duration: 72'

This film takes on the topic of the Nazi and Fascist persecutions in Piedmont, the deportation and the extermination. There are many dramatic stories and upsetting destinies. This film goes over the memories of Jewish life in the 1920s and 1930s. Then there is the violent break marked by the 1938 racial laws followed by the uncertain period of the war. In the years 1943-45 the persecution took on all the aspects of an extermination and lives came apart in a dramatic way. There were those who were deported, those who managed somehow to hide and run away, and those who chose the path of the Resistance, with all the risks that that involved. The fates of Primo Levi and Luciana Nissim are exemplary. They were captured as partisans and deported as Jews.

"For us Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation is, above all, a common project that has allowed us to learn from the voices and faces of those who have given their testimony ñ in this case, Piedmontese Jews. They tell the story of deportation, war, terror, and death. However, they speak of calm, friendship and community at first and later of liberation and hope. They are the memories of children and adults who could not imagine Nazi-Fascism, memories that reinforce the sense of horror that they bring across. From all this, a common story emerges that is held together by the repertory chosen from among the films preserved by the ANER. In this way we can see the events that are spoken of, what happens before and after." (G. Boursier, P. Milanese)

FILM DIRECTOR

CAST & CREDITS

Biography

film director

Giovanna Boursier

Giovanna Boursier (Turin, 1966) since 1992 specializes in the history of the partisan struggle in Italy and of the persecution and extermination of gypsies during the Second World War. During these same years, she has also been worked as historical consultant for the documentary films of Mimmo Calopresti, Claudio Paletto, and Guido Chiesa. She has curated exhibitions and audiovisual events. In 1999 she worked as an interviewer for Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation.

FILMOGRAFIA

Giovanna Bousier: Via dell'Idroscalo (2000), I giorni dell'R60 (2001, co-regia Mauro Morbidelli e Guido Albonetti), L'aria di Monfalcone (2001), L'Idroscalo un anno dopo (2001, co-regia Maurizio Iannelli), Signorina Fiat (2001).

Pierfranco Milanese

Pierfranco Milanese (Alessandria, 1956) began to work in the field of visual communications with the Blood Video group in 1982. In 1990 he co-founded Index, a film and video production company. In 1998 he collected and filmed the testimony and recollections of people who survived the Nazi concentration camps for Spielberg's Shoah Foundation. He had import professional experiences working with Jean Rouch in 1986 and with Robert Kramer in 1998.

FILMOGRAFIA

Pierfranco Milanese: Nica libre (1984), Filo rosso (1996), Tamburi lontani (1996), Paolo Conte e il cinema (1998), Le foglie volano (1999), Il reduce (1999, co-regia Monica Affatato), Fiat, autunno ’80 (2000, co-regia Pietro Perotti), Antonio Calderara e la sua collezione (2001, co-regia Beppe Calopresti), Infanzie (2001), Dal vero: il paesaggismo napoletano (2002, co-regia Beppe Calopresti), Senzachiederepermesso (2014, co-regia Pietro Perotti)

Cast

& Credits

Regia, soggetto, fotografia: Giovanna Boursier, Pierfranco Milanese.
Music: Sergio Zamparo.
Editor: Monica Affatato.
Production company: Archivio Nazionale Cinematografico della Resistenza, via Fabro 6, 10122 Torino, Italia, tel. +39-011-539274; Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, Los Angeles Office, P.O. Box 3168, Los Angeles, California 90078-3168, USA, tel. +1-818-7774636, e-mail webmaster@vhf.org.