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14 April1952
Favorita
Author
Giuseppe Damiata
Format
9,5mm
Credits
Music & mix audio by Pierpaolo Ovarini | Scuola di Sound Design del Conservatorio di Musica di Bologna.

The whole Damiata family parades in front of Giuseppe's 9.5 mm camera, on 14 April 1952, Easter Monday, at the Parco della Favorita in Palermo. And it seems that not just one family is represented here, but an entire society dressed up for the occasion, women and men, girls and boys, couples, old people, children of all ages, laughing, joking, dancing. All happy, all happy to be inside the frame, once again amateur cinema is bigger than life, an inclusive tool: there is room for everyone. The moving portrait is a family film topos and we never tire of watching these smiles that appear so spontaneous. And who knows if this apparent happiness is only momentary, it is certainly as contagious as the emotions emanating from home movies. And it is precisely the simple things in life, these genuine emotions that count and are probably worth more than material wealth.In the narrative of an Italy living the dream of emerging from poverty, Mrs Jenny Corti in Martini, winner of a hefty sum for having made thirteen at the totocalcio, declares instead to the newspapers: 'These millions have not made me sleep and give me no peace!' The doubt arises that money rather than enriching us makes us lose that happy innocence.

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