Premiere of Saturnia

SATURNIA 
Written, Directed and Produced by Ferdinando Dell'Omo and Lilia Topouzova  Edited by Juan Baquero 
Director of photography Maya Bankovic 
Original Music by Ivo Paunov  Produced in Association with OMNI Television with the support of  

The Mariano A. Elia Chair at YORK University

Preview the film here ....

More than fifty years ago, over two hundred thousand Italians boarded the glorious transatlantic Saturnia embarking on a journey to American in search for a better future. The documentary Saturnia explores the lives of four of those immigrants. We follow the story of Michelle, an Italian-Canadian author from Toronto, writing a book about her father who left Sicily on the Saturnia. He died when she was sixteen and Michelle sets on a journey into the past to understand who he was by discovering where he came from. By following her research and creative process, we will enter the lives of three of Saturnia`s passengers: Rosa in Montreal, Silvano in Vancouver, and Antonio in Edmonton.Everyday people whose extraordinary stories move and inspire us.They will help us to reconstruct the immigration experience and the challenges that Italians faced during their trip across the ocean, and the ones that followed when they finally arrived in America. Step by step the movie recalls and reconstructs the transatlantic journey between Italy and Canada, but also the memories of small villages in post WWII Italy and the first years of adjustment in the new world.

Immigration is a complex and multi-layered and making of a film about it mirrors the experience itself. In order to capture the essence of the Italian-Canadian immigration story, the documentary Saturnia relied on the collaboration of several key institutions and individuals. . The commissioning of the film and the commercial support, indispensable for its realization, was completed in association with OMNI Television. The academic research and scholarly perspective,crucial for the historical narrative ,was enabled by the Mariano A.Elia Chair at York University. Access to rare archival footage and still photographs which resurrected forgotten moments from a distant past was enabled by the Pier 21 Museum in Halifax and the Fondazione Ansaldo in Italy. The Genova-Liguria Film Commission and DocLab Productions Roma, allowed the shooting and production of Saturnia on Italian soil.

Ferdinando Dell’Omo is an Italian-Canadian documentary filmmaker and journalist. He has worked in the past on a series on ship travel and memory, entitled Navi della Memoria. His work has been broadcast both in Italy and Canada.

Lilia Topouzova is a historian and a documentary film-maker. A Ph.D. candidate at the History Department at the University of Toronto, her work explores the visual and textual representation of violence and its remembrance. She is the recipient of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant of Canada. She is the co-author of the award-winning documentary feature, The Mosquito Problem & Other Stories (dir. A. Paounov) which premiered at Cannes and TIFF in 2007 and won the human-rights award at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

The (Not So) Nice Girls & Friends Celebrate Spring

Allan Briesmaster, poet

Writer José Sigouin

José

Poet Cornelia Hoogland

Cornelia

The multi-talented Rosemary Aubert

Poet Jason Paradiso reading for writer Paul Carlucci

Jason

Poet & NSNIG&F co-organizer Giovanna Riccio

Gio

Emcee & Writer Michelle Alfano

March 2012

Rosemary Aubert has been a fixture on the Canadian literary scene since the day, three decades ago, when Al Purdy chose her as one of only five female poets that he included in his ground-breaking anthology Storm Warning Two. In the intervening years, she has had thirteen books published around the world. Though known primarily as a mystery novelist, Aubert has produced two book-length poetry collections: Two Kinds of Honey, published by Oberon, and Picking Wild Raspberries: The Imaginary Love Poems of Gertrude Stein, published by Sono Nis. Her new poetry collection, Rough Wilderness: The Imaginary Love Poems of the Abbess Heloise, is her first book of poems in a decade.

Allan Briesmaster is a freelance editor, micro publisher, and one of the four partners in Quattro Books. His two most recent full-length poetry collections are Interstellar (Quattro, 2007) and Confluences (Seraphim Editions, 2009), and his newest chapbook is After Evening Wine (Alfred Gustav series, 2011). His poetry has also appeared in many journals and anthologies. He lives in Thornhill, Ontario, with his wife Holly, a visual artist with whom he has collaborated several times.

Woods Wolf Girl (Wolsak and Wynn, 2011) is Cornelia Hoogland’s fifth book of poetry, and is based on the fairy tale, Red Riding Hood – which is also the source for her play, Faim de Loup (Hungry Wolf). Her sixth book of poetry is Crow (Black Moss Press, 2011), and her new chapbook is titled Gravelly Bay (Alfred Gustav Press, 2012).  Hoogland’s recent awards include finalist placements for the 2012 Malahat Review Poetry Competition; Stephen Dunn Poetry Award, The Broome Review (USA); Descant’s Best Canadian Poem; the National Magazine Awards; and five CBC literary nominations. Hoogland teaches at the University of Western Ontario, and founded Poetry London in 2004. Website at http://redridinghood2011.wordpress.com/.

Jason Paradiso is an editor/writer/poet who considers himself some sort of an artist too. His name has appeared in several mastheads, including Carousel, Pilot and Descant where he is a co-editor.

Reading for ...

Paul Carlucci is a journalist and short story writer. His work has appeared in the Vancouver Review, the Feathertale Review, Darwin's Bastards, and is forthcoming in Descant Magazine. His journalism has been carried by Al Jazeera English, Think Africa Press, the Toronto Star and more. He's lived all across Canada, as well as in France and Ghana.

Giovanna Riccio was born in Calabria and immigrated to Canada as a child. Her poems have appeared in newspapers, magazines, journals and anthologies.  Her work has been translated into Romanian and a number of her poems are being translated into Italian for an upcoming anthology to be published in Italy. She is the author of Vittorio (Lyricalmyrical Press) and Strong Bread (Quattro Books). 

 

José Sigouin has been at the University of Toronto for most of her working life, first as a lab technician then as a research grants facilitator, and more recently as a data analyst. While her days are spent coaxing numbers into telling factual stories, José shifts gear in the evening, coaxing words into telling fictional ones. She honed her skills through classes led by Ray Robertson, Dennis Bock and Kim Echlin, as well as two writers’ groups spun out of those classes. José was a finalist in the Random House of Canada Student Award in Writing in 2011. She is currently working on her first novel, Intersection.


And as emcee...

Michelle Alfano is a co-organizer of the (Not So) Nice Italian Girls & Friends Reading Series and a Co-Editor with Descant. Her novella Made Up of Arias (Blaurock Press) won the 2010 Bressani Prize for Short Fiction. Her short story “Opera”, on which her novella Made Up of Arias is based, was a finalist for a Journey Prize anthology. Her fiction and non-fiction work has been widely published in major literary publications. She will be featured in a forthcoming documentary on the passengers, and the children of the passengers, of the Saturnia that will be featured on OMNI-TV. She is currently at work at a new novel entitled Vita’s Prospects.

WordStage featuring the Quattro Books Writers

Dooney's Cafe 

(formerly Annex Live) 

December 14, 2011

298 Brunswick Avenue  (south of Bloor)

7:30 pm sharp

FEATURING:

Binnie Brennan’s short stories have appeared in a number of Canadian and American literary journals. Her best-selling novella Harbour View was shortlisted for an Atlantic Book Award, longlisted for the ReLit Award, and was co-winner of the 2009 Ken Klonsky Novella Contest. Binnie is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers and Queen’s University. Born in Toronto, Binnie lives in Halifax, where she is a violist with Symphony Nova Scotia. www.binniebrennan.com/

Carole Giangrande’s novella, A Gardener On The Moon, was co-winner of the 2010 Ken Klonsky Novella Contest, and is published by Quattro Books. She's the author of two novels (An Ordinary Star and A Forest Burning), a short story collection, Missing Persons), and two non-fiction books. She’s worked as a broadcast journalist for CBC Radio, and her fiction, articles and reviews have appeared in Canada’s major journals and newspapers. Between hosting the worldwide literary podcast Words to Go, and commenting as The Thoughtful Blogger, she’s found time to complete a new novella, Midsummer, from which she’ll read at WordStage. www.carolegiangrande.com/

Koom Kankesan was born in Sri Lanka. Canada is the fourth country that he and his family lived and is the one where they settled down. He's a proud Torontonian and has a background in English Literature and Film Studies. Suffering from premature old man syndrome, he's worked at a variety of ill-fitting jobs, most recently and most consistently as a high school English teacher, while trying to write on the side. His novella, The Panic Button, about a family living in Scarborough, has been praised by comic book visionary Alan Moore and largely ignored by everyone else. It has the somewhat dubious honour of being shortlisted for the Scarborough Book Award.

Paul Seesequasis is a writer and journalist. He was the founding editor of the award-winning 'Aboriginal Voices' magazine, and recipient of the Maclean-Hunter journalist award. His short stories and feature writing have been published in Canada and abroad. Tobacco Wars is his first novella.

Hosted by Maddy Curry and Sonia Di Placido. The fun keeps going - join the writers afterwards for the Quattro Christmas party!

A Place in the Spotlight

NSNIG&F co-organizer, poet and 
the night's emcee Giovanna Riccio

Award winning poet Cathy Petch starts the evening

Writer Diane Bracuk read a piece on Warsaw

Writer Bianca Lakoseljac

Poet/Writer Liz Worth

NSNIG&F Co-organizer & 
Writer Michelle Alfano

NSNIG Giovanna at rest

Darlene Madott, writer and NSNIG extraordinaire

Karen and Jane Somerville

Liz and friend

Francesca and Talia, friends of the NSNIG&F

NSNIG&F supporter 
and Poet Valentino Assenza

October Reading

Michelle Alfano is a co-organizer of the (Not So) Nice Italian Girls & Friends Reading Series and a Co-Editor with Descant. Her novella Made Up Of Arias (Blaurock Press) won the 2010 Bressani Prize for Short Fiction. Her short story “Opera”, on which her novella Made Up Of Arias is based, was a finalist for a Journey Prize anthology. Her fiction and non-fiction work has been widely published in major literary publications. She will be featured in a forthcoming documentary on the passengers, and the children of the passengers, of the Saturnia that will be featured on OMNI-TV. She is currently at work at a new novel entitled Vita’s Prospects.

Diane Bracuk is a freelance writer specializing in health and women's issues. Her fiction and poems have appeared in Canadian journals such as The Antigonish Review, TickleAce and Other Voices. In Great Britain, Diane’s work has been published in Image, Ireland's largest circulation woman's magazine, and You Magazine, part of the Saturday Supplement of England's Daily Mail.

Bianca Lakoseljac is the author of Bridge in the Rain, a collection of stories linked by an inscription on a bench in Toronto’s High Park; and Memoirs of a Praying Mantis, a collection of poetry. She has completed a novel, Summer of the Dancing Bear, which explores “the rite of passage” of a fourteen year old girl befriended by a Gypsy clan. Bianca holds a BA and MA in English from York University. She taught communication courses at Ryerson University and Humber College. She is Past President of the Canadian Authors Association, Toronto, and has served as judge for various literary contests. For more than half of her life, she’s been married to a man with an Italian background, and feels right at home among the not so NICE Italian girls. And it was only through a toss of a coin that her last name is Lakoseljac and not Maggiori.

Karen Mulhallen has just published her poetry book which begins on Toronto Island and moves to Turkey, Italy and then returns in the fourth section to the city of Toronto. The Pillow Books is an extended conversation with Sei Shonagon, a woman in the Japanese Court in the eleventh century. Although a pillow book might be understood as a secret document, by making such a text into a book the author tests the boundaries of secrecy in her search for an audience. It was Karen Mulhallen¹s fascination by this line between the public and the private and by the ways in which a distant culture seemed to be so close to our own that led her to write The Pillow Books.

Cathy Petch writes poetry, plays, articles, books and graffiti. She hosts the Plasticine Poetry Series in Toronto, which is now in it's fifth year. She is a member of the 2011 Toronto Poetry slam team. She has 3 chapbooks and has been published in magazine online and off. Having been raised Catholic, she loves the company of Italian girls and their not so nice ways.

Liz Worth is a Toronto-based writer. She is the author of Treat Me Like Dirt: An Oral History of Punk in Toronto and Beyond and a piece of surreal punk fiction called Eleven: Eleven. Amphetamine Heart is her first poetry collection.

And as emcee ...
Giovanna Riccio was born in Calabria, Italy, immigrated to Canada when she was six years old and grew up in Toronto. She has a degree in philosophy from the University of Toronto. Over the years, her poems have appeared in newspapers, journals, magazines, and anthologies. She is the author of the chapbook Vittorio, published by Lyricalmyrical Press in July 2010. Her book of poems, Strong Bread, was published by Quattro Books in the spring of 2011 and launched in Montreal in April 2011 in Toronto in May 2011.

Premiere of Saturnia

On the occasion of the 11th Annual Italian Language Week in the World, dedicated in 2011 to the celebration of 150th anniversary of Italy’s Unification, the Italian Cultural Institute presents the screening of the documentary SATURNIA, written, directed and produced by Ferdinando Dell'Omo and Lilia Topouzova.

SATURNIA

Written, Directed and Produced by Ferdinando Dell'Omo and Lilia Topouzova

Edited by Juan Baquero

Director of photography Maya Bankovic

Original Music by Ivo Paunov

Produced in Association with OMNI Television with

the support of The Mariano A. Elia Chair at York University

October 17, 2011

 6:30 pm

Istituto Italiano di Cultura

496 Huron St.

Toronto

Free admission

416-921-3802 x 221

More than 50 years ago, over two hundred thousand Italians boarded the glorious transatlantic Saturnia embarking on a journey to American in search for a better future. The documentary Saturnia explores the lives of four of those immigrants. We follow the story of Michelle, an Italian-Canadian author from Toronto, writing a book about her father who left Sicily on the Saturnia. He died when she was sixteen and Michelle sets on a journey into the past to understand who he was by discovering where he came from. By following her research and creative process, we will enter the lives of three of Saturnia`s passengers: Rosa in Montreal, Silvano in Vancouver, and Antonio in Edmonton. Everyday people whose extraordinary stories move and inspire us.They will help us to reconstruct the immigration experience and the challenges that Italians faced during their trip across the ocean, and the ones that followed when they finally arrived in America. Step by step the movie recalls and reconstructs the transatlantic journey between Italy and Canada, but also the memories of small villages in post WWII Italy and the first years of adjustment in the new world.

Immigration is a complex and multilayered and making of a film about it mirrors the experience itself. In order to capture the essence of the Italian-Canadian immigration story, the documentary Saturnia relied on the collaboration of several key institutions and individuals. . The commissioning of the film and the commercial support, indispensable for its realization, was completed in association with OMNI Television. The academic research and scholarly perspective,crucial for the historical narrative ,was enabled by the Mariano A.Elia Chair at York University. Access to rare archival footage and still photographs which resurrected forgotten moments from a distant past was enabled by the Pier 21 Museum in Halifax and the Fondazione Ansaldo in Italy. The Genova-Liguria Film Commission and DocLab Productions Roma, allowed the shooting and production of Saturnia on Italian soil.

Ferdinando Dell’Omo is an Italian-Canadian documentary filmmaker and journalist. He has worked in the past on a series on ship travel and memory, entitled Navi della Memoria. His work has been broadcast both in Italy and Canada.

Lilia Topouzova is a historian and a documentary film-maker. A Ph.D. candidate at the History Department at the University of Toronto, her work explores the visual and textual representation of violence and its remembrance. She is the recipient of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant of Canada. She is the co-author of the award-winning documentary feature, The Mosquito Problem & Other Stories (dir. A. Paounov) which premiered at Cannes and TIFF in 2007 and won the human-rights award at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

For more info please go to: http://tinyurl.com/3mvzthv