BASSANI BETWEEN WORDS & IMAGES
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May 4, 2009 7:30-9:30 pm
Gli occhiali d'oro (The Gold Rimmed Glasses)
Dir. G. Montaldo (1976)
Post-screening discussion with
Prof. Lucienne Kroha (McGill University)
May 5, 2009 7:30-9:30 pm
Il giardino dei Finzi Contini (The Garden of the Finzi-Continis)
Dir. V. De Sica (1970)
Where: Centro Primo Levi and CJH at the Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16 Street, NY
Admission: $10 and $5 (students & seniors).
Box office: 212-868-4444 - www.smarttix.com
Films are in Italian w/English subtitles
In the two novels that inspired the films presented for this tribute, Bassani explores different but parallel experiences of isolation and persecution: a distinguished, homosexual physician, Doctor Fadigati, a young Jewish student who feels an affinity with the doctor because of the imposition of the racial laws of 1938, the members of a wealthy Ferrarese Jewish family, and a young Milanese anti-Fascist. Observing the Italian society with great sensitivity to the social and psychological nuances, Bassani portrays the transformation of a country and at the same time demands from the reader a universal and humanistic approach.
Rejected by Bassani in his essay "The Betrayed Garden," De Sica's Hollywoodian masterpiece is loosely based on Bassani's novel but made it known worldwide.
Its didascalic undertone, the aloofness of the characters, and the sentimentalized depiction of the anti-Jewish persecution in Italy succeeded in carefully avoiding Bassani's concerns and political perspectives. It still remains to be seen, forty years after its release, whether it made the international public aware of Italian Jewry and its 20th-century history, or rather contributed to hiding it away into the realm of mythology.
On May 4 at 11:30 am at the Italian Cultural Institute literary critic Alain Elkann will talk about Bassani and 20th century Jewish writers in Italy.
Click here for additional information
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OF INTEREST
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People and Nations: Celebrating Motion
This year the Israel Day Parade and Italian National Day will be celebrated in New York a day apart from each other.
The Italian presence in Israel is a microcosm of impressive diversity and so is the universe of Israelis in Italy. Stay tuned for more on the topic.
L'Aquila. Memory and Future After the Earthquake. May 1 at 6pm
Casa Italiana Zerilli Mariṃ. NYU 24 W 12 Street
Francesco Benelli, art historian, Columbia University
Anna Teresa Callen, food writer
Anna Di Lellio, sociologist, The New School
Mario Fratti, playright
Moderator: Andrea Fiano, Milano Finanza and Class-Cnbc
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