The Shameful Story (La storia vergognosa)
Tuesday, April 8 | 6:30 PM (doors open at 6 PM)
Free admission | Registration required
In collaboration with Comites SF and the Italian Migration Studies Working Group of the University of California Berkeley, under the patronage of the Consulate General of Italy in San Francisco, the Italian Cultural Institute San Francisco is pleased to present “The Shameful Story” (La storia vergognosa), a documentary by Nella Condorelli.
This screening is part of the series Italian Immigration, Past and Present.
Between 1861 and 1985, nearly 19 million Italians left their country to move permanently to the United States. From Friuli to Sicily, from Veneto to Puglia, almost 19 million people were fleeing crime, poverty, the rise of fascism, facing the hardship and discrimination of the migratory condition in the hope of a better future for themselves and their families.
Italian emigration is an often overlooked chapter of history, but director Nella Condorelli is not afraid to face it. Winner of the Audience Award at the 2021 Visioni dal Mondo International Documentary Festival, “The Shameful Story” explores the historical phenomena in which contemporary Italian-American culture is rooted. The documentary is as much a historical study as it is a reflection on the shared identity of two countries, built by crossing the immense ocean that separates them.
The Shameful Story (La storia vergognosa)
Dir: Nella Condorelli
Italy, documentary, 2020, 75 min
Cast: Enrica Rosso, Evelyn Famà, Fiorella Migliore, Francesco Foti, Carmelo Rappisi, Matilde Politi, Leo Gullotta, José Luis Ardissone
In Italian with English subtitles
Awards and nominations:
- Nastro d’Argento Award 2021 Nomination Cinquina Docufiction
- Audience Award Visioni dal Mondo Festival Internazionale del Documentario 20211
- Nomination Best Foreign Film LASA International Film Festival, Victoria, Brasile 2021
- Nomination Best Foreign Film MOKKHO International Film Festival, Pondicherry, India 2021.
Production: Factory Film S.r.l., Cinecittà S.p.a. and Sicilia Film Commission, in collaboration with the Consulate General of Italy in Philadelphia; AAMOD Archivio Audiovisivo del Movimento Operaio e Democratico; Fondo Regionale del Lazio per il Cinema e l’Audiovisivo, with the patronage of the Embassy of Italy in Paraguay.
The screening in San Francisco is organized by the Italian Cultural Institute San Francisco, in collaboration with the Italian Migration Studies Working Group, UC Berkeley, the Consulate General of Italy in San Francisco.
SYNOPSIS
Fiorella, a fourth-generation descendant of a Sicilian family that emigrated to the American continent, and renowned model in the world of fashion, returns to Sicily to learn about the country where her great grandparents emigrated from, and to discover the reasons that forced them to leave, together with millions of Italians, to an unknown land. By chance, she will encounter a nearly magical theater and a company of street artists preparing a show about the Italian Mass Migration, inspired by letters, photos and fragments of images. The story will be delivered by an emerging cinema of that time, taken from the diary of a young and aspiring journalist, an emigrant himself.
Following our artists though this journey as they move between the past and the present, Fiorella will learn about the most censored details of the great exodus that Italy has preferred to forget.