The ANNOTICO Report

When I was a teenager, and became aware of  "Sacco and Vanzetti", I was
ashamed that two Italian Americans were so publicized as being such
ingrates as to engage in such unpatriotic and anarchistic activities
against the USA, the country that  had welcomed them, and given them
opportunities not available in Italy.

It was only when I became college educated that I realized that the current
Corporate Capitalist Oligarchy was not much of an improvement on the old
"Robber Barons" (or even the Family Oligarchies of Latin America).

Then I came more to appreciate and respect the social change that "Sacco
and Vanzetti" and a small army of Italian Radicalists had attempted and
accomplished, but are little recognized for.

These Italian "idealists" were beaten by company "goons" and "railroaded"
by a legal system bought by the corporate world.

Many of the "reformist" ideas (decent wages, working conditions,
unemployment) were brought over from Italy
from the 1922 "platform" of Mussolini (Communist turned Socialist turned
Dictator, the usual route), and were later incorporated into FDR's "New
Deal"

Professor Phillip Cannistraro, who was affiliated with the John D. Calandra
Italian American Institute, and was the author of  "The Lost World of
Italian-American Radicalism" was one of the few that touched on the
subject. The Professor just passed on May 28, 2005.

The announcement below is of a "sneak preview" of the yet unfinished film.

Peter Miller's almost-finished documentary about the Sacco and Vanzetti
case will be shown as a work-in-progress at the prestigious Newport
International Film Festival in Newport Rhode Island. The screening will
be held on Wednesday, June 8, 2005, at 11:00 AM at the Newport Art Museum,
76 Bellvue Ave., Newport, Rhode Island.

"Sacco and Vanzetti" is a feature-length documentary that tells the story
of two Italian immigrant anarchists who were convicted of murder and
executed in Boston in 1927 following a notoriously prejudiced trial.

The film is produced and directed by Peter Miller, a veteran PBS producer
who has produced a number of films with Ken Burns, including the Jazz?
series for PBS. It is the first major documentary film about this landmark
case.

The screening is sponsored by DocuClub, a national organization of
documentary filmmakers that holds in-the-works screenings of new films by
documentary makers.

?Sacco and Vanzetti? is not yet complete, but DocuClub and the Newport
International Film Festival have chosen to screen an advanced edit of the
film in order to give audiences a sense of how a documentary is made.

Audiences will also have a chance to offer comments to the filmmaker. ?I
look forward to showing the film far and wide when its done, but I know
that we will benefit from the insights of viewers at this late stage of
work. This screening is a rare opportunity to hear from the film's audience
while there's still time to make it a stronger
film, says director Peter Miller.

"Sacco and Vanzetti"  has received the generous support of a number of
funders including the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) and the
Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, among others.

For more information about the documentary, contact Peter Miller at 212 665
7970 or petermiller@nyc.rr.com. For more details about the Newport
International Film Festival screening, see
http://www.newportfilmfestival.com/
2005/filmdate.asp?day=06/08/2005
 

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