L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2024 www.italoamericano.org 40 L'Italo-Americano y o u m a k e l e m o n a d e – o r perhaps, in this case, limon- cello! After regrouping, Olson moved forward in 2022 with the long-awaited Fellini film festival called Fellini Spring- time, sponsored by Festa Italiana and other organiza- tions. The group rented the same theater at the Seattle Art Museum and structured the series in the same way: Thursday-night screenings for nine weeks. It was an enormous success, leaving Olson bowled over by the r e s p o n s e . " I h a d t h e y o u n g e s t a u d i e n c e o f m y whole career," he said. "They j u s t a t e i t u p l i k e c r a z y , rediscovering, seeing for the f i r s t t i m e , s e e i n g f o r t h e e i g h t h t i m e . I t w a s j u s t , wow!" F i l m h a s a l w a y s b e e n i m p o r t a n t t o O l s o n , w h o grew up as an only child. His parents were immigrants: his father, Swedish, and his m o t h e r R u s s i a n . A s a teenager, he subscribed to the Village Voice so he could keep up with the latest in art, music and politics. After country. His deep contacts in the national and international film community as well as his ability to acquire rare films from archives around the world were central to his success. And he truly loved w h a t h e d i d . A t S A M , h e seemed to be everywhere, greeting moviegoers, intro- ducing the films, and creat- i n g a n e n j o y a b l e , f e s t i v e atmosphere. W h e n 2 0 2 0 r o l l e d a r o u n d , O l s o n t h o u g h t i t would be like any other year. At the time he was working on a Federico Fellini series t o p r e m i e r e t h a t s p r i n g . Then the COVID pandemic struck, bringing everything t o a h a l t . T h e S e a t t l e A r t Museum, like most art insti- tutions, was hit hard. Olson was initially furloughed from his position as the museum's film curator. In December 2020 he was told that his position had been eliminat- ed. It was definitely a setback t h a t t o o k s o m e w r e s t l i n g with. But as the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, graduating from the Univer- sity of Washington, he took a filmmaking course at Cor- nish College of the Arts and t h e n w o r k e d f o r e i g h t months helping to create s h o r t s a f e t y f i l m s f o r t h e Department of Motor Vehi- cles. He began at the Seattle Art Museum as a shipping assistant but dreamed about getting more involved with films. One day, he suggested that the museum stage a film festival. Museum managers were reluctant but Olson was persuasive. He was allowed to take on the task, but only on his own time. "At SAM, film was always seen as the bottom of the artistic totem pole," he said. "I had to do so much lobbying and self-jus- tification." F o r V i v a I t a l i a , O l s o n reached out again to his con- tacts to obtain rare 35mm prints and 4K restorations. As an added bonus, poet and film curator Tova Gannana has created a pre-film Viva Italia! music playlist. The festival continues through April 24. r o l e s o f m e n a n d w o m e n were tested. "I would cer- tainly call it a cultural reex- amination," Olson told arts r e p o r t e r T r e v o r K e a t o n Pogue recently. "What the Italian filmmakers of that time did was, rather than getting moody about exis- tence like some of the exis- t e n t i a l i s t s i n P a r i s , t h e y found a way to inject bits of joy and positivity." O l s o n i s a w e l l - k n o w n n a m e t o S e a t t l e m o v i e lovers. For nearly 50 years, he curated and presented f i l m s a t t h e S e a t t l e A r t Museum (SAM) where his creativity and resourceful- ness made his festivals a w o r k o f a r t . H e c a m e u p with endless ways to pack- age screenings, designing them around a certain film- maker or actor, or showing films inspired by a new art exhibit. He curated a spring I t a l i a n f i l m f e s t i v a l t h a t complemented SIFF's Cine- ma Italian Style, and he cre- ated a film noir series that ran for more than 40 years, t h e l o n g e s t c o n t i n u o u s l y running noir series in the F rom the 1960s to t h e 1 9 8 0 s , t h e I t a l i a n f i l m i n d u s t r y w a s b o o m i n g . D r a - mas, comedies, no matter t h e g e n r e , t h e r e w e r e s o many films coming out of Rome that it was jokingly referred to as Hollywood on the Tiber. Films often mir- rored the key issues of the d a y i n c l u d i n g c h a n g i n g mores, social unrest or polit- ical terrorism. Now half a century later, film buffs are in for a treat as S e a t t l e w e l c o m e s V i v a I t a l i a ! T h e P a s s i o n o f Italian Cinema. Running for nine weeks from Febru- ary 28 through April 24, all but one of the featured films were made in the 1960s and 1970s. Viva Italia, presented by F e s t a I t a l i a n a a n d G r e g Olson Productions, starts with a three-film tribute to Italian superstar Marcello Mastroianni. Featured films a r e D i v o r c e , I t a l i a n Style (1961), The Organiz- e r ( 1 9 6 3 ) , a n d L a Notte (1961). In Divorce, Italian Style, Mastroianni's masterful interpretation of a Sicilian who imagines innov- ative ways to get rid of his nagging wife so he can be with his mistress earned the actor an Oscar nomination — the first male actor nomi- nated for a foreign-language performance. Although Mas- troianni did not win, the film did take home an Oscar that year for best screenplay. Following the Mastroian- ni film trio, the festival con- tinues with other exceptional o f f e r i n g s : I l S o r p a s s o , Rocco and His Brothers, Mamma Roma, The Con- formist, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspi- cion, (which won an Oscar for the best foreign language film in 1972), and ending w i t h a n o t h e r O s c a r w i n - ner, La Grande Bellez- za, which won for best for- eign language film in 2014. Film expert and festival organizer Greg Olson has a soft spot for what he calls t h e g o l d e n a g e o f I t a l i a n filmmaking. It was a time of great change in Italy, when social and economic trans- formation led to political upheaval. Ancient traditions, such as religion and family, w e r e c h a l l e n g e d a n d t h e Seattle audiences enjoy the golden age of Italian cinema RITA CIPALLA A three-film tribute to actor Marcello Mastroianni, including "Divorce Italian Style," opens the Viva Italia! film series in Seattle this spring (Photo courtesy of Viva Italia!) SEATTLE ITALIAN COMMUNITY

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