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.