Talk at Conference: Philosophies of Travel

Hi all! Wow its been since February since I last posted. Hasn't the year flown by (once again).

I'm proud to say I had the opportunity to speak at a conference early this month about the documentary! Here I am talking:

Photo courtesy of Lucy Peters :) - notice the feet, from the image
 of Italia Bova in the last post! This was the final slide of my
powerpoint at the conference.

The conference was called "Philosophies of Travel: Exploring the Value of Travel in Art, Literature, and Society" held at the University of Sydney by the Sydney Society of Literature and Aesthetics (SSLA) on 29th September to 1st October 2011. http://ssla.org.au/conference.html

My paper was the title of this documentary. I took the audience through a photo journey of my experiences and pilgrimage thus far, just as I have been with you via this blog.

The Abstract:
In 2009 Danielle’s mother co-authored a bilingual coffee-table book Sempre Con Te of nine women’s solo migration stories from Southern Italy to the Northern Beaches of Sydney. A year later, with a string of book talks behind them, the authors flew to Calabria to share these recollections with the towns the women left behind. With only a camera in hand, empty pockets and high spirits, Danielle decided to jump the bandwagon of this southern Italian book-touring extravaganza and document all the quirks and heartaches along the way. Tracing her Nonna Maria’s footsteps in reverse, Danielle visits Italy at the same age as Maria was when she arrived in Australia some fifty years prior. With an interest to experience a first-hand view of her own family history and Italian heritage, Danielle decided to carry a telling-lens to share her experiences with those home back in Australia; those of us who are all too familiar with our own kaleidoscope of migration stories.

It was a great experience and, to my delight, was well received by the lovely audience. They were so encouraging, thank you to all who came, you made my first conference talk bearable (and in fact, very enjoyable!)

What's next? When can you see it??

Lucy has been working very hard capturing over 40 hours of the footage, it is now FINALLY all on the computer and able to be edited. The next steps involve me narrowing down the clips into a consistent storyline, and  finding an editor and composer - we have some great-sounding people in mind. But of course, if you have these skills and are interested - contact us for a chat over coffee! We'd love to hear from you. And anyone else.

Well that's it for now, will be keeping you updated as things progress over the summer.

Special thanks to Alex Norman, Annabel Carr, and Christopher Hartney for making this talk possible for me.

Back home in Sydney: an interview with Italia Bova and things to come.

I’ve been back home in Australia now for six months and today, in between university, volunteering in Central America, bumming around (enjoying the meaning of holidays) and enduring the woes of the removal of my wisdom teeth, I am finally back on track with the documentary! Today I interviewed Italia Bova, a woman featured in Sempre Con Te, in her family home on the Northern Beaches. Before leaving for Italy I also interviewed Maria Nero and Maria Mastorianni also in the book. Italia and I spoke about her experiences of life in Italy before her migration, the migration journey itself and then life in the new land Australia. With her daughter Teresa she flipped through old family photo albums with me, took me to her back vegetable patch complete with a fruitful fig tree and bustling with a chicken cage. I was shown the olive tree in the front garden (which Italia planted in replace of the eucalyptus tree that was there prior – talk about symbolism) and was then treated to café, torta, biscotti and nougat!

 During the interview Italia also discussed the period of separation from her husband-to-be, Santo, and how she feels things between men and women have greatly changed since the 1950s, touching on whether my generation could really endure the separation (of love) and isolation (as a migrant) she went through. But then again, in the end it really does come down to time and space, so specifically I am looking at young Australians and the angsty issue of long-distance love, versus the young Italian women of the book who sustained their love for years without a flutter of doubt in their minds.

The next chapter of my documentary brings the focus from my journey of self-discovery through southern Italy to my questions about relationships in Sydney. In the weeks to come I will be interviewing a bunch of couples and individuals who have something to share on the issue of contemporary love and long-distance sustenance. Feel free to shoot me an email if you’re interested in getting involved or just have some ideas/opinions to share!

I look forward to writing here more often and, as always, hearing your thoughts.

Danielle.

Calabria Continued – Decollatura, Conflenti (again), Cirella, Martone, Gizzeria, Gerace, Bivongi, Messina, Nicastro… Mamma Mia!

Our Team:

Me -  :)

Silvana Toia – author of book

Gina Polito – author of book

Silvana Nero – author of book

Emilia Toia – graphic designer and author of book

Erron Field – photographer of book

Francesco “Ciccio” – Silvana T's cousin and our driver

Sara – Ciccio’s wife and moral support

Michael Toia – Silvana’s husband

Book singing in Gizzeria

This week has been so full on I haven’t had any time to sit and write for the blog! I’m now sitting on the train back to Rome with Emilia, Erron and Mum. We’re looking forward to chilling for the first time in ten days, and hopefully meeting some locals (via Couch Surfing). I’m personally looking forward to having a drink other than wine (which I have been enjoying with every three-course meal, twice daily), and I’m thinking Campari to keep it cultural, otherwise a favourite: gin and tonic. Back to blogging and my lack of it, there is also limited access to internet here, so even if I wanted to post you, dear reader, I couldn’t have sooner. Allora (so), I don’t think I have ever had a week busier than this one, and that includes exam period. We have visited every town of each woman in the book, shared their stories, given books talks, signings, meetings with government officials and finally ending last night on regional television! I’ll start with that.

            Monday night, 9:30pm, panel-like discussion, people phoned in with opinion, it was the Italian version of Q&A. The set was slightly more chaotic than Q&A though, as I’ve been an audience in the show, but all I’ll say is that it was very Italian. More info in the film to come. What I was stoked about was that they allowed to me to film on their set AND use the footage from the show on my film – score! Permission like this in Australia is close to costing something in the thousands. They have a website where they also upload the episodes, so you’ll be able to see the Sempre Con Te team online (www.2015tv.it), the episode was from Monday 6/09/2010. 

On the set: (from right to left) Silvana Toia, Emilia Toia,
Silvana Nero and Gina Polito. Erron is taking photo here

Me filming on the TV set

I especially liked seeing a camera guy smoking on set – Italian hint there for you. No matter where you go you see Italians smoking. Just before we got on the train to Rome today I saw a man hop on and then light up right next to a “Vietato Fumare” (smoking is forbidden) sign. Classic. The toilets on board are also occupied for smokers currently, who cares about our busting bladders? Actually, quite funnily, Erron recently bought himself a pair of what we call in Australia ‘budgie smugglers’. White, tight, Italian “trunks”. He said he knew he couldn’t get away with it in Britain, but ‘when in Rome’ I guess. On the beach the other day I brought up the topic of his swimming attire again, and as he sat there he lit up a cigarette and said, “Well this is what happens when you come to Italy. Within a week you’re wearing speedos and smoking on the beach”.

Anther Italian trait to look out for is talking on the telephone. On the way over to Rome from the airport after arriving from Sydney, our taxi driver had two telephones and spoke almost continuously on both of them. One would call, then the other would, he’d hang up and interchange with them constantly. He was even texting at one point without his hands on the wheel. Silvana Toia’s cousin Cicio, who drove us around the whole time in the mini van, also has a couple phones – one for calling people on and one for receiving calls… I didn’t ask why – I’ve come to find that question irrelevant here.

The talk in Cirella

Nuns reading our book in Cirella

Filming in Cirella

Book talk in Martone town hall

Street art in Martone - images of migration

Book talk in Gizzeria

Street in Gizzeria at nightfall

We spent the whole week travelling altogether (nine of us) in this mini van. The other night on our way home from dinner with some of Emilia’s local cousins, she made the commnent, “Next time lets just get two cars, it would have been so much easier to get around and be less dependent…” I said “Yeah I know! That would have been so much better… why did we get the one big car?” “Because your mother had a dream of us travelling altogether, singing.” This didn’t surprise me in the slightest, that’s Mum for you – Julie Andrews. Erron also made the very practical comment of, “well it is more economical with one car” … but he carries New Scientist magazine in his pocket, so of course he’d say something like that. Did I mention he is also the only non-Italian with us? Thank God for Erron.

Out for dinner with Emilia's cousins! 

My filming has been going great, much to my satisfaction. Documentary making is a step into the unknown, you could return home to edit with shit-all or you could get lucky and come back with a wonderful story. With so much happening in such a small space of time, I got lucky. I’ve been able to capture over 14 hours of our journey with the excitement, emotion and the daily random events that continued to blow our mind as they lead us from one point to another like Alice down the Rabbit Hole. Arriving with almost nothing planned and ending the way we did (great opportunity and being so well received) it has been, depending on who you are, a peculiar form of chaos theory, or destiny. Silvana Toia even said last night “It has been like a dream”. The filming process has felt like a mix between a reality TV show and a family holiday with an obsessive parent (me) filming the whole thing e.g. “Wave to the camera Billy. What are you eating Billy? Sing me ‘Happy Birthday’ again Billy”. Our whole group has been great and very cooperative with my filming, and I am actually very thankful for their allowances. You don’t realise how invasive a camera can be when present in real life circumstances until you have one there almost 24/7. Frustration, confusion and tears have been shared along with the laughter, meal times and general daily banality. At first feeling quite vulnerable with its presence, the group and myself have grown with its company, and like perhaps ‘big brother’, its watching eye is almost forgotten. It’s still a bit to get used to, watching yourself on video and seeing your face take up the whole screen (a short arm-length away is all I have when I talk to the lens). But you get used to the pimples, the low-angle shots (Facebook photography horror), and the unusual Bogan accent you never thought you had.

Last Wednesday I went to see my Nonna’s house in Conflenti. This experience was very special for me, and relevant to the doco’s mission of following my family roots. Some interesting events happened there, but I better save the highlights for the film otherwise all is lost without its climaxes … Mum and I also went to the church Nonna had her proxy marriage in and then journeyed to Messina yesterday, the port in Sicily where Nonna’s boat, ‘The Oceania’, departed for Australia. That was quite emotional for Mum and a little unreal for me to fathom. I felt complete when I was able to capture it, it gave purpose and fulfillment to my journey, and was really nice to be able to see in real life the places I wrote about in my HSC short story on Nonna’s migration experiences (titled ‘Could be Better, Could be Worse’ – feel free to ask for a copy if interested).

The Italian boys awaiting my email...
and Ciccio on the right as my bodyguard. 

It has been really enjoyable spending time in each little village, seeing its own unique characteristics, the people, the Italian boys and their attention (that’s a whole other blog there), the bell towers, the 1000 year old architecture, the undercurrents of Catholicism, gelato and pizza on every corner, and the Italian language floating through every street and corridor. I’ve been so exhausted, sleeping usually after 1am and awaking a handful of hours later, I really look forward to sleeping and chilling in Rome and then coming home to my base. I will, of course, continue the process of the film on the blog as I conduct more interviews in Sydney and begin the long, long editing process.

Until next time!

-Danielle.

Gizzeria at Sunset

* Photos by Emilia Toia and Erron Field

Calabria Begins - Gizzeria Lido and Conflenti

A cat that lives at our accommodation in Gizzeria Lido

After writing in the last entry and reflecting upon it I realised how much more positive I am feeling now in comparison. I think once you embrace a place for what and who it is, reject what you are used to at home and discard any expectations you may press upon it, the world opens up and you begin to see and live it for what it is in its own wonderful unique way.  Italy is Italy with all the chaos and disorganisation it comes with – which is the Italians themselves! But it also comes with the laughter, the playfulness, the sillyness, the drama and the best food in the world.

            I forgot to mention that once we arrived in Rome the weather was to die for, a wave of heat overcame us and summer, which felt like a distant friend, was back with us. Walking through the streets I felt like I was cheating, that this summer wasn’t mine to have yet and that I was jumping the queue, not waiting my turn for it to come to Australia. Mwaahhaaa.

Now I am in the south of Italy staying in a place called Gizzeria Lido right next to the beach. We literally walk under a tunnel under the road and then onto the sand (or tiny grey rocks that are apparently fragments of volcanic ash! Possibly from the volcano in Sicily called Stromboli – Pinocchio rings a bell here). We’ve been relaxing at our accommodation while here and being cooked for – lots of seafood!

The beach and Gina's Kangaroo for her classroom back in Australia
It represents them with her!

Yesterday went to Conflenti (where my family is from) for the most popular annual festival: La Madonna della Quercia (a festival dedicated to Mary and a vision someone had of her decades ago near the Quercia tree (an oak tree) next to the church). People come from all over Italy and the world to celebrate it. Apart from all the markets stalls, music, dancing, hourly church services and eating, the procession was the highlight. It involved carrying a massive statue of the Madonna (Mary) carrying the Baby Jesus and holding her open breast, on a circle around the village with a couple hundred people following in front and behind. I had the camera and filmed the whole thing, weaving through the crowds, running up hill to get high shots, getting near to the statue getting close-ups of the pained faces of the men holding the idol up, walking behind to get the marching band with their brass instruments, the alter boys and girls carrying incense and singing, the priest and his possy, the members of the council, and the onlookers. By the time I got back to our group I was sweating and looked slightly deranged- but so satisfied.

Conflenti from the top of the mountain
You need to drive up the mountain for one hour to get to the valley
I walked down with Erron (photographer) while everyone else got the bus

Everyone waiting outside the church in anticipation for the Madonna idol

The tree where the vision of the Madonna was seen all those
years ago. Its next the the church and inspired the annual festival

Mum, Gina and Silvana set up a stall for the book and lots of people were stopping to discuss the content and sharing their own stories. It was quite successful; we sold about a dozen, which is huge for a small town. So far we are being very well received, I can’t wait to share the footage of it all with you.

The festival was great all up, children running loose everywhere! It reminded me of India a little bit, and even Gina commented on that which confirmed it for me. Its interesting how small country towns, even in developed places, reflect quite similarly on the third world places I’ve visited – being the simplicity of the people, the enjoyment of life’s little pleasure, community focused, random objects left on the side of the street, dogs and cats wandering around and mixing with the people, street food, lots of colours!

Me filming Mum who is speaking to a man who grew up with my grandfather

the hillside at sundown

boy playing accordion while children dance

Anyway I am being called for lunch now so I have to go, I’m still full from breakfast, expect me to come home as an umpa-lumpa! Gina just came over to my table and said, “Guys, its time to eat again! Can you believe that…”

So I better go, its rude to not come to the table immediately (with enthusiasm!)

My first few days have been great; I look forward to the next update.

-Danielle.

*  photos taken by Erron Field.

In Transit - London and Rome

I can only be brief because Mum and I are about to catch a train down to the South, Lamezia, from Rome.

We’ve had a chockablock past few days, we arrived in London on Tuesday morning and spent the two days we were there mostly sightseeing and eating. We stayed in university accommodation near Victoria Station, Westminster, so Buckingham Palace and Big Ben were only ten minutes away by foot. We didn’t plan anything before we got there and did mostly everything by the minute. The first day we went to Soho and saw The Jersey Boys at Prince Edward theatre. That was lots of fun, and something Mum has wanted to go for ages (just ask my brothers). It was quite nice and sunny on Tuesday, but I had to keep reminding myself it was summer! The weather was like our Australian autumn. On Wednesday we really felt the London weather its famous for. The rain poured non-stop, but it didn’t dampen our spirits (pun intended). 

We caught the double-decker bus up to Soho again to see the National Portrait Gallery with my friend from film school, Louisa, who lives just out of London. After that we took refuge in a popular organic take-away food place called Pret a Manger (by popular I mean literally one on EVERY corner). We also found a café called “Nero” which Mum was ecstatic about (as it is her last name) and so I took a photo of her in front of it. We then realised there was a Nero Café on every corner as well. A bit overkill. Expecting summer I packed light – one cardigan was all I had so I got a bit sniffly and hence grumpy. The London people are interesting, to tell you the truth I saw more tourists rather than locals flooding the streets (again pun intended). They were also pretty grumpy as well, so I guess I blended in. They never said thank you or smiled much, but I’m not complaining, it’s just the culture of the city, like people from Tamworth might say about us Sydneysiders. Louisa was great to have because she kept us laughing and we didn’t feel so tourist-y. I surprisingly found the city quite easy to get around, and I reckon I could master it in a week or two – totally tooting my own horn, but its how I feel so there. The truth. It hurts.

a Big Black Bin

We landed in Rome yesterday morning and realised we had to leave today for Lamezia earlier to get to Confelnti by the early evening. So we had to change our ticket (which was not refundable or transferable!) and bought a new one. We also had tickets for the Vatican this morning that were also non-refundable or transferable – NOTHING IN ITALY IS REFUNDABLE OR TRANSFERABLE so don’t book anything unless your 200% certain!! Luckily this morning two German girls staying at the same place as us overheard that we had to forfeit our Vatican tickets and offered to buy them off us because they were heading there now!! They gave us 40 Euro for them. What are the chances??

We had a nice day with lunch near the Spanish Steps with Gina Polito, and then I caught up with my good friend Silvia and her Friend Gabriella. I used to go to school with Silvia in 2003 when I lived in Bassano Del Grappa in the Veneto region.

In Rome - Me, Silvia and Gabriella

So here we are in Roma Termini (train station). We missed our train to Lamezia at 10:45am because some idiot in a uniform gave us the wrong information and we ended up at the wrong platform. So luckily we were able to transfer our ticket (so I guess in some cases its possible hey!) and we are departing in about half an hour. So I gotta go!

Off to the South today… the real journey begins!

-Danielle. 

Introduction - one week before departure

Hello there!

Next Monday I'm flying to Italy with mum Silvana Nero, along with Gina Polito, Silvana Toia (co-authors) and Emilia Toia (co-author and graphic designer), to promote their book Sempre Con Te/ Always with You in Calabria (located on the ball of Italy's foot). It was published last year and has been well received along the Northern Beaches, Sydney (including being the winner of a National Trust of Australia (NSW) Energy Australia Heritage Award 2010. Category: Interpretation and Presentation - Community Group). In a nutshell the book focuses on nine women (including my grandmother Maria Nero) from the periods of the 1920s-1970s who all had similar migration stories from Italy to Australia; they fell in love, their husbands and boyfriends left for Australia, landed in the Northern Beaches and began to set up a new life here. After many years of separation the women, some with proxy marriages, embarked here by themselves via ship and finally reunited with their loves in a new land. We are going to journey around Calabria to promote the second edition of the book, taking the stories of these women to their home towns and sharing with those who stayed behind their journeys and what became of them in Australia. 

the Oceania liner, 1951

The book and this journey to Italy is the inspiration for this documentary film. 

As it is a documentary, the film can only be what is thrown at me (a.k.a life), but to start I have three main points I'd like to focus on:

1. My pilgrimage to my Italian roots and the group's journey around Calabria with the book.
2. An exploration of two women from the book: Maria Nero (my grandmother) and Maria Mastrioanni and their migrant stories of the separation, journey and reunion. A reflection on my connection to them being the age of 21, and travelling to Italy, the same age as they were when they left Italy for Australia
3. A look at contemporary attitudes and influences on communication and long distance relationships in comparison to those of the fifties, how we have changed, what remains and the searching for our place in the world amidst this.

Passport of Rosina Roperti, a migrant to the Northern Beaches, Sydney, 1950s

The film's budget is practically $0, everything is coming from my own pocket right now, but Lucy (co-producer) and I are looking into funding and hopefully sponsorship down the track. The camera I'm using is a Sony mini DV, just a regular 'home movie' video camera, and the mic is lent to me for use of this trip by the very kind filmmakers Dale and Susan Paget. 

I'm going for three weeks and staying in Calabria for ten nights. I'm taking time off Uni so things are a little hectic right now! I'll be doing a great juggling act of keeping my study up to date. I plan to keep this blog updated with the progress of the film while in Italy and upon return in Sydney right up until the end product and distribution. I look forward to having you on board with me in this filmmaking journey, always willing to hear your comments, suggestions and thoughts! 

Ci vediamo a presto! 

- Danielle.