Alexander J. Seiler is guest of honour in Specchia (Italy)
The Swiss documentary filmmaker Alexander J. Seiler will be the guest of honour at the 9th “Fête du Cinéma du Réel” Documentary Film Festival in Specchia.
23.07.2012
The motto of this year’s festival in the Apulian Province of Lecce (July 25-28, 2012) is “Crisis, Love, Folly.”
Filming migrants’ stories
Together with the 12-minute short film “In wechselndem Gefäll,” which was honoured with a Golden Palm in Cannes in 1963, the festival will present Seiler’s diptych portraying three generations of immigrants from Italy: the master of documentary film produced the film “Siamo italiani - Die Italiener” (1964) together with Rob Gnant and June Kovach. The film sheds light on the poor reception of the Italian work force, their working and housing conditions, as well as further social aspects concerning their life in Switzerland. Forty years later in “Septemberwind – Migrantengeschichten” (2002), the author visits several of the protagonists who had flocked from Southern Italy to Switzerland and now live as retirees in the Apulian homeland.
Alexander J. Seiler will attend the festival to present his films personally and take part in the discussion on “Crisis, Love, Folly”: Filming migrants’ stories.”
Geneva, July 24, 2012