Feature film
Siamo italiani
Alexander J. Seiler · 1964
Synopsis
The film opens at the border, on the medical inspection undergone by workers arriving from Italy, examined like goods. It then follows these men and women in their work, their lodgings, their interminable Sundays, at Mass and at dance evenings, and speaks of the ban on bringing their families, the bureaucracy, the coldness of the locals. With no main character, the testimonies follow one another, and Swiss voices echo the prejudices that circulate about them.
Context
The film was shot with a handheld camera and in synchronous sound, using the methods of direct cinema, which light equipment had just made possible. Seiler signed it with June Kovach and Rob Gnant, the latter on camera, and produced it with him. Little seen in cinemas, according to its director, it circulated mainly on television and in parallel networks. It was shown at the first Solothurn Film Days, in 1966, and is counted among the films that opened up the new Swiss cinema.
Who it is for
Seventy-nine minutes, in black and white, in Italian and Swiss German: we listen to people talking, and the film asks for nothing more.
Prizes and reception
The first Swiss film to put foreigners on screen, regarded as a pioneering example of the committed documentary.
Sources for this page 7
The pages consulted to check this page.