Italian Americans and Federal Hill – The Documentary - Advance review

The story of Italian immigrants, the hardships they faced, and their successful integration into American Society while preserving their customs and traditions has been a story largely untold if at all.

Inaccuracies of Italo-American society, family and history have been perpetuated by movies like 'The
Godfather'(Coppola'72),'The Untouchables'(DePalma'87), 'Goodfellas'(Scorsese'90), 'A Bronx Tale'(DeNiro'93), and 'Federal Hill' (Corrente'94).

While some stereotyping happens with all immigrants and nationalities, movies like these fill the minds of children with absolute rubbish and label people with Italian ancestry unfairly. Movies, plays, skits and even animated movies like the hit "Sharktales" poke fun at Italians as comic relief and stoop to give the bad guy an "Italian hoodlum" feel.

By contrast, an upcoming documentary movie holds promise of a different view and fill the huge void left by the Hollywood crowd.

Filmed in Providence, Rhode Island on Federal Hill, this documentary film is to be released in
September 2006 and is reportedly the result of a five year effort to document the history and cultural evolution of Italian Americans in their neighborhood and depicts a determined Italian immigrant population who prospered through education, hard work and community involvement.

Aptly called "Italian Americans and Federal Hill", this film serves up historical reality, nostalgia, traditions, food, family values and the importance of education as related by Italo-Americans themselves in their own words.

Featured speakers in the movie include Judge Frank Caprio, Rev. Msgr. Galliano J. Cavallaro, Prof. John S. Chiaro, Jr., former Mayor Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci, Jr., City Council President and former Mayor John J. Lombardi, Rev. Ramond P. Luft, former Italian Vice Consul, Grande Ufficiale Joseph R. Muratore, former Mayor Joseph R. Paolino, Jr. (also former United States Ambassador to Malta), Rev. Vincenzo Rosato, and other Italo-Americans from the neighborhood.

Reportedly, even the soundtrack was recorded live and features traditional Italian folk music (according to their publicist) a far cry from the music usually associated with Italian stereotypes.

While filmed in the same neighborhood as Corrente's movie, this film by producer Jon Raben promises to be far more useful in furthering a true, fair and accurate depiction of Italian culture and heritage. It contains no violence or foul language.

The official web site is at www.italianamericansandfederalhill.com
The producer can be reached at bcpressdept@yahoo.com