Dall’ Italia All’ Australia by the River – Silent film and live Italian folk music by Zumpa
MEDIA RELEASE – 8 APRIL 2022 Dall’ Italia All’ Australia by the River Silent film and live Italian folk music by ZumpaQueensland Maritime Museum, Friday 20 and Saturday 21 May 2022
more detailsmedia contact: David De Santi – david@goodtunes.com.au 0409571788
In 1924, Italian film director Angelo Drovetti embarked on an epic 8,000 nautical mile voyage aboard the Regina d’ Italia, sailing from Genoa to Brisbane. The result is regarded as the most comprehensive silent film ever made of a migrant voyage.
Live the journey with live Italian folk music from Zumpa by the Brisbane River at the Queensland Maritime Museum as part of the 2022 Brisbane Anywhere Festival.
The film includes footage of Genoa, Naples, Messina, the Suez Canal, Colombo, Fremantle, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The Brisbane footage, prior to the Story Bridge, includes the river, the city and Howard’s Wharves.
‘Dall’Italia All’Australia’ chronicles the voyage of the Regina d’Italia (Queen of Italy) – one of three passenger steamships first built for the Lloyd Sabaudo Line at the turn of last century.
The film showcases the panoramic views witnessed by Italian, Yugoslav, Greek, Arabic and Jewish migrants as they stood atop the deck of the old steamer during their seven-week world odyssey from Genoa to Australia, by way of Egypt & Sri Lanka, arriving in September 1924.
Dall’Italia All’Australia, of 60 minutes duration first screened in Italy in May 1925.
Melbourne Journalist and author Tony De Bolfo stumbled onto the existence of Dall’Italia All’Australia through his research for a book entitled In Search of Kings (Harper CollinsPublishers) – dealing with what became of 108 passengers including his grandfather Silvio De Bolfo and his brothers Francesco and Igino – who disembarked the steamship Re d’Italia (King of Italy) in Melbourne in November 1927. Tony discovered the existence of Dall’Italia All’Australia after scouring a website for the Bologna Silent Film Festival where the film was screened in 2003.
Since that time the (silent) film has been screened all over Australia with a live musical score by I Viaggiatori with the last performance in 2017. The film will have a revival and will be coming to Brisbane in May 2022 with live music by Zumpa which includes David De Santi from I Viaggiatori.
During Tony De Bolfo’s research he discovered the Australian Regina d’Italia disembarkee passenger lists from the 1924 journey. These are available in I Viaggiatori website and make interesting reading for anyone with Italian heritage in Australia. The list of Brisbane passengers that disembarked is available on the website.
Brisbane band Zumpa (7 piece) will provide an accompanying suite of Italian folk music that will transport you to forgotten Italian fishing villages, moonlit olive groves and a hard life under a hot sun where peasants play music to celebrate life with a fierce sense of humour. They will provide the sounds and energy of folk, gypsy and Italian world music woven together to provide a truly spaghetti and meatballs experience.
ABOUT THE NIGHT
There will be two performances with limited tickets on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 May 2022.
– Gates will open at 6.30pm. Food and drink will be available.
– The film and live Italian folk music performance by Zumpa will be at 8pm.
– There will be pre-show entertainment including Taranta dance demonstration by Anna Cerreto and Tarantati Meanjin.
– Tickets are $35 full / $28 concession. CLICK HERE TO BUY
Brisbane Passengers from the Regina D’Italia, 1924. Is your family name here?
Click here to see the list of Italian, Greek, Albanian, Polish, Yugoslav, Palestinian, Arabic and Indian passengers who disembarked the Regina d’Italia in Brisbane on the voyage filmed by Angelo Drovetti for Dall’Italia All’Australia in late 1924.
The performances are part of the 2022 Brisbane Anywhere Festival – www.anywherefestival.is
