Italian POWs in Australia on Screen

Contested Memory of WW2 Italian Captivity:
Mapping Italian Military and Civilian Internees’ Creativity

Organized by
Elena Bellina, Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor, New York University
Giorgia Alù, Associate Professor, University of Sydney

Co-sponsored with
The University of Sydney
Australian Research Council

In ENGLISH

In conjunction with the exhibition
Creativity and World War II Italian POWs in the United States
May 1 – September 2, 2025 | John D. Calandra Italian American Institute (25 W 43rd St)
and the conference
The Bitter Bread of War: Multidisciplinary Perspectives from Italy and the Diaspora
April 25-26, 2025 | John D. Calandra Italian American Institute (25 W 43rd St)

The event series will consist of two days of academic presentations, roundtables discussions, and film screenings that investigate how World War II Italian Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees in Western Allied hands have been represented and memorialized through their creativity in North America, Australia, and Europe during and after WWII (1940-2025), in films and documentaries.

This event aims to continue the successful series started in Spring 2024 at NYU Casa Italiana as part of the New York events sponsored by the Australian Research Council grant “Mapping Creativity in Captivity during WWII.” Furthermore, 16 April 2025 event will mark the launch of the Digital Atlas of Creativity in Captivity (DARCI).

DAY TWO
April 16, 2025

Italian POWs in Australia on Screen

& the Digital Atlas of Creativity in Captivity (D.A.R.C.I.)

Program:

Elena Bellina & Giorgia Alù – Welcoming Remarks

Documentary screening
Italians & Australians at War, 1940-1947
(Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1986, 30 min.)
Produced and directed by Christopher McCullough

Gino Moliterno (The National Australian University)
On the representation of Italian POWs in Australia in documentaries and movies

Giorgia Alù and Elena Bellina
Presentation of the Digital Atlas of Creativity in Captivity

Anthony White (University of Melbourne, Australia)
On Italian creativity in POW camps in Australia to showcase research done for DARCI

Q&A
Moderated by Giorgia Alù and Elena Bellina