Italian POWs in the United States 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 ONE
April 15, 2025

Italian POWs in the United States on Screen

Program:

Elena Bellina & Giorgia Alù – Welcoming Remarks

Alan Perry (Gettysburg College, PA) & Stephen Mancini (Robert Morris University):
Historical overview on Italian POWs in the United States and the Letterkenny Army Depot Camp story as an introduction to the documentary.

Antonio Brescianini
Associazione per la Memoria dei Prigionieri Italiani a Letterkenny

Carlo Borghetti
Consigliere Regionale della Lombardia

Film Screening:
Fedeltà. Soldati. Prigionieri.
L’insolita storia dei prigionieri italiani negli Stati Uniti durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale
(2024, 55 min.)
Directed and produced by Stephen Mancini
The documentary showcases the history of the Italian POWs detained at Letterkenny Home Depot through historical footage and interviews with the POW descendants in North America and Italy.

Charles L. Leavitt IV (University of Notre Dame, IN)
Presentation on the representation of Italian POWs in American POW camps in Italian postwar cinema with Natale al campo 119 (1947)

Roundtable and Q&A with:
Alan Perry, Stephen Mancini, Charles L. Leavitt, Elena Bellina, Giorgia Alù
Moderated by Ruth Ben-Ghiat (NYU)

Screening
Natale al campo 119
(Italy, 1947, 82 min.)
In ITALIAN with ENGLISH subtitles
Directed by Paolo Francisci
Starring Aldo Fabrizi, Vittorio de Sica, and Peppino de Filippo