Truth To Fiction: Vittorio De Seta's Lost World
$15 General Admission
$10 Student/Child/Senior
$7 Member
About
(Vittorio De Seta, Italy, 1954-1959, 118 min, in Italian with English subtitles)
In the 1950s, Italian director Vittorio De Seta produced ten documentaries chronicling the daily lives of people in rural villages across Italy. From Sicily to Calabria, De Seta captured intimate and captivating beautiful vérité records of fishermen, farmers, and other workers as they went about their daily lives, rituals, and communal practices.
Films In This Program Include:
Islands of Fire (1954, 11 mins)
This prize-winning short is a poetic portrait of life on the coast of Sicily before, during, and following a volcanic eruption.
The Age of the Swordfish (1954, 11 mins)
Vittorio De Seta’s rhythmic editing adds drama to this documentary chronicle of a small Sicilian village on the day of a spearfishing expedition.
Golden Parable (1955, 10 mins)
Filming amid the flaxen wheat fields of Sicily, Vittorio De Seta documents the everyday rituals of farmers during harvest time.
Sea Countrymen (1955, 11 mins)
The rhythms of the sea set the tempo for this vivid account of a day in the lives of Sicilian fishermen.
Solfatara (1955, 11 mins)
Harshness and beauty exist side by side in Vittorio De Seta’s documentary look into the lives of sulfur mine workers and their families in southern Italy.
Easter in Sicily (1955, 10 mins)
Vittorio De Seta captures the music and pageantry of an Easter celebration in Sicily in this gorgeous color documentary.
Orgosolo’s Shepherds (1958, 11 mins)
The striking landscapes of rural Sardinia provide the backdrop to this lyrical look at the hardscrabble lives of the region’s shepherds in winter.
Fishing Boats (1959, 11 mins)
The unpredictable nature of the sea governs the world of Sicilian fishermen as they work, rest, and seek refuge from a storm.
A Day in Barbagia (1958, 11 mins)
From sunrise to sunset, Vittorio De Seta chronicles the lives of Sardinian women who look after both home and fields while their shepherd husbands are away tending their flocks.
The Forgotten (1959, 21 mins)
Vittorio De Seta travels to a remote province in southern Italy to capture a unique celebration known as the “Feast of Silver.”
Individual film synopses courtesy of The Criterion Collection
Co-Presented with Seattle Film Society!
The Seattle Film Society is a filmmaker-run project dedicated to organizing, cultivating, and celebrating the Greater Seattle filmmaking community.
Co-Presented with Seattle Documentary Association!
Seattle Documentary Association cultivates and supports an equitable and professional community of nonfiction storytellers.
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