L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2025 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS then returned. Her cinema was 'silent' in name only: the films were structured like musical scenegraphy, with precise directions on what to sing and when. This bond between music and image was the key to their immense success in the Little Italies." Where did the idea for a documentary on Elvira Notari come from? I've always been drawn to Italian and Italian-American stories: my previous works a l l s h a r e t h a t c o m m o n thread. I discovered Elvira Notari while finishing a doc- umentary on an Italian the- a t e r i m p r e s a r i o w h o h a d e m i g r a t e d t o t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d b u i l t a t r u e empire of movie theaters. At that point, I began to explore cinema's role in shaping the identity of Italian-American communities. A n d w h a t d i d y o u find? I discovered that Italian films were in high demand in the Little Italies, and not just major silent epics, but also sceneggiata films, the popu- lar melodramas of directors like Elvira. From there, a w h o l e w o r l d o p e n e d u p . Even more surprising was learning that her production company had even opened a branch in the United States, producing short documen- t a r i e s c o m m i s s i o n e d b y immigrant communities. It was run by James Crapan- zano, who handled distribu- tion and gathered requests f r o m I t a l i a n - A m e r i c a n groups. In this way, a real b r i d g e w a s b u i l t b e t w e e n Naples and New York. W h i c h p a r t o f y o u r r e s e a r c h i n t o E l v i r a N o t a r i ' s l i f e a n d w o r k struck you the most? A key moment was read- i n g S t r e e t w a l k i n g o n a R u i n e d M a p b y G i u l i a n a B r u n o , p u b l i s h e d i n t h e 1990s. That book rediscov- ered Notari's figure and con- vinced me to pursue the pro- ject. Bruno, like me, looked a t E l v i r a f r o m N e w Y o r k : that was another point of c o n n e c t i o n . F i n a l l y , w h a t impressed me deeply was the near-total absence of memo- ry about her. Nobody knew her: an injustice that pushed m e e v e n m o r e t o t e l l h e r story. Why do you think she was forgotten by official film history? There isn't just one but several causes. First, we still know little about silent cine- ma: it's estimated that about 90% of films have been lost, since they were shot on per- ishable, highly flammable materials often destroyed for safety reasons. In this sense, we are "lucky" to have three f i l m s a n d t w o d o c u m e n - taries by Notari, as many other directors left behind nothing at all. Then there's the question of the kind of cinema she made. Hers were popular films, Neapolitan sceneggiate, produced on small budgets within a fami- ly-run structure. Dora Film, her workshop-like company, was truly artisanal: her hus- band was the cameraman, her son an actor, relatives and friends filled the cast, and her grandmother hand- colored the reels. Postwar critics looked down on such w o r k , f a v o r i n g t h e g r a n d costume epics shot in Turin, Milan, or Rome. D i d t h e h i s t o r i c a l p e r i o d p l a y a r o l e a s well? Absolutely. To make mat- ters worse, Fascist censor- ship strongly obstructed a cinema that was popular, dialect-based, and rooted in folklore. It wasn't until the 1970s, thanks to scholars like Giuliana Bruno, Vittorio Martinelli, and Mario Fran- co, that her work began to be reappraised. The rediscovery was also driven by feminist movements, which brought Italy's first female director back into focus. From then o n , h e r c i n e m a s l o w l y reemerged from the mar- gins. In the last 10–15 years especially, we've seen a true proliferation of studies, ret- r o s p e c t i v e s , a n d w o r k s inspired by her. Stylistically, how did y o u c h o o s e t o t e l l h e r story? The starting point had to be her surviving films: 163 minutes in total. They are h e r t r u e v o i c e ; t h e o n l y direct legacy we have left. From there, we built a dual n a r r a t i v e : o n o n e h a n d , Notari's historical story, with the help of scholars such as Mario Franco and Giuliana B r u n o ; o n t h e o t h e r , t h e story of how her memory has b e e n r e t r i e v e d , f r o m t h e 1970s to today. To this we added a third layer: the con- temporary. We follow artists inspired by her, from writer Flavia Amabile to photogra- pher Cristina Vatielli with actress Teresa Saponangelo; from Francesca Consonni's collective embroidery work- shops to the musicians who bring her films back to life with live scores. In this way, Elvira's story is constantly in dialogue with the present. What do you think her films can teach us today? The first element is the way she portrayed women: complex, multifaceted char- acters, far removed from the stereotypes of her time. Then there's the dramatic rele- vance of her endings, often marked by femicides, tragi- cally still an issue today. But there's more. Her films were popular works, speaking the language and dialect of ordi- nary people, depicting the r e a l N a p l e s , f a r f r o m grandeur and idealization: that was precisely what the Fascist regime could not tol- erate. Seeing them today, restored with great care, is striking: they still hold force, visual power, and a subver- s i v e e n e r g y t h a t p e r h a p s Notari herself wasn't fully a w a r e o f e x p r e s s i n g , b u t which is unmistakable now. What does it mean to present your documen- tary in Venice? I t ' s e n o r m o u s . W e c o u l d n ' t i m a g i n e a b e t t e r stage. It's the culmination of years of work with Antonella Di Nocera and her Naples- based Parallelo 41, a funda- mental partner for us, whose name itself refers to the par- allel linking Naples and New York. Bringing Elvira's films to Venice means showing them on the most prestigious stage of Italian cinema. It's recognition not only of our work, but above all of hers: a way to restore her rightful place in film history. By opening a Dora Film office in New York, Notari became the pioneer of an early, tran- satlantic distribution loop, years before neorealism brought Italian stories to US arthouses CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 Elvira and her husband Nicola in the 1920s (Image from: Kinomata. La donna nel cinema, edited by Annabella Miscuglio and Roni Daoupulo, Dedalo Libri, 1980)

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