PRISONERS IN PARADISE 
(film about Italian POWs in the U.S. during the Second
World War) will air in the upcoming weeks in these cities. Other dates and
cities are still being planned. For more information about the film, contact
the filmmaker: Camilla Calamandrei at ItalianPOW@aol.com

KVIE     ch 6   Sacramento-Stockton, CA   Saturday March 2nd/ 12 noon
WGBH  ch 2   Boston, MA  Tuesday, March 5th/ 7pm
WGBH  ch 44 Boston, MA   Wednesday, March 6th/  7:30pm 
WGBH  ch 44 Boston, MA   Saturday, March 9th/  4:30 pm
WHYY            Philadelphia, PA   Wednesday, March 20th/ 11pm

"Prisoners in Paradise" a one hour documentary about Italian POWs held in
America during WWII by Camilla Calamandrei, edited by Nancy Kennedy

Best Documentary Rhode Island Film Festival

"Impressive" great war stories and love stories"   Variety

"You can't get better than this." Providence Journal

"Enlightening and moving. A valuable and memorable film about the lives of
Italian prisoners of war in the United States."   --Stanley Kauffmann, The
New Republic

During World War II more than 51,000 Italian soldiers were brought to the
United States as Prisoners of War.  The charming and poignant documentary
special, "Prisoners in Paradise," traces the previously untold story of
these young men, their romances and friendships with American women, and
their significant - but unrecognized - contribution to the Allied war
effort.

Featuring rare period footage of POW camps, the film follows six Italian
POWs (and the women they met in America) on their extraordinary
journey full of challenges, love, perseverance and good luck.  Captured
primarily in Northern Africa - where they had been surviving on hard
biscuits and water - the Italian POW's were uniformly amazed at the
abundance of the US and the generosity of their captors.  Barracks were
clean, treatment was humane, and, most importantly, food was always
plentiful.  Ironically, for many, capture had turned out to be a stroke of
good fortune.

Shortly after the bulk of the Italian POW's arrived, Italy officially
switch ed sides in the war, and over ninety percent of the POWs agreed to
collaborate with the Allied war effort.  Suddenly, men who had been so badly
defeated in the conflict, who spoke little or no English, and whose exposure
to the United States had come only through movies and books, now found
themselves living out the contradictory roles of prisoner and ally to the
USA at the same time.

Though still restricted and kept under guard, collaborating POWs worked in
26 states under the direction of American soldiers and were permitted both
to receive visitors and to visit the homes of U.S. citizens on weekends.
Local Italian-American communities extended hearty welcomes to the POWs and
meaningful, lasting relationships flourished. Romances between Italian POWs
and American women were common, and many ended in long lasting marriages.

In its moving final act, "Prisoners of Paradise" follows four such couples,
all of whom married after the war, and investigates the unique challenges of
the years since.  As the former POWs have become citizens and raised
families, all the while loving America and missing Italy.

Through these touching and sometime humorous stories, "Prisoners of
Paradise" illuminates the profound cultural affinity between Italians and
Americans, and offers a provocative meditation on the meaning of national
identity in times of peace and war.