Filmmaker Anthony Fragola premieres Un bellisimo ricordo (A Beautiful Memory): A Mother and Her Sons against the Mafia, his new documentary on the life and death of Giuseppe “Peppino” Impastato, an anti-Mafia youth activist murdered by the Mafia in 1978, on Saturday, October 6 at 7:30pm, in the Williamson Theatre as part of the 2007-2008 season, Island Culture: Near and Far, presented by the Center for the Arts at the College of Staten Island.
The evening also features a concert by Michela Musolino, a musician who specializes in Musica Popolare di Sicilia, and a Q&A hosted by Giancarlo Lombardi, Associate Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at the College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center/CUNY with Fragola, Musolino, and Roberto Dainotto, author of The Importance of Being Sicilian and ex-member of the association “Fausto e Iaio,” which collaborated on anti-Mafia activities with the Centro Peppino Impastato. All of the guest artists have family roots in Sicily.
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased in person, by phone, by mail, and online through the CFA Box Office, 2800 Victory Boulevard, 1P-113, Staten Island. Hours: Monday—Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm; Saturday, noon to 3:00pm. 718-982-ARTS (2787), www.cfashows.com.
“This is a very important event because it celebrates unsung heroes of contemporary Italy,” states Lombardi. “Fragola’s film will move viewers. His program with Musolino and Dainotto will grant further depth to the discussion of such timely issues.”
Fragola’s Un bellisimo ricordo features inspiring conversations and guided tours of the landscape of Peppino’s life by his surviving younger brother, Giovanni Impastato, as well as the last recorded interviews of their passionate, anti-Mafia mother, the late Felicia Bartolotta Impastato (1916-2004), the first woman to speak out openly against the Mafia and file a civil suit to bring justice for her son. Michela Musolino will be joined Kato Hideki in performance of a mix of traditional and contemporary Sicilian folk songs about tamuri and giustizia (love and justice). One piece, “Ciuri di Campu,” is a contemporary Sicilian folk song based on a poem written by Peppino Impastato. The Q&A brings together a distinguished group of artists and scholars of Sicilian culture.
This evening is part of the 2007-2008 CFA season: Island Culture: Near and Far. The CFA is easily reached by car from I-278; campus parking lots 1 and 2 are recommended. By MTA, take the S62, 61, 93, 53, and the Staten Island Ferry with connections to the bus.
The CSI Center for the Arts 2007-2008 season is supported, in part, with funds from the Richmond County Savings Foundation; a gift by the Carnegie Corporation (made possible by an anonymous donor); the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; the Office of the Borough President, Hon. James P. Molinaro; Dr. Michael Shugrue; the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts; Time Warner Cable; the Staten Island Rotary Foundation; the College of Staten Island; and by our many business and individual patrons.
Island Culture: Near and Far, CSI Center for the Arts 2007-2008 Season
continues with:
Saturday, October 13, 8:00pm Pete Michaels’ New
Vaudeville
Monday, October 14, 7:30pm New York Philharmonic
Brass Ensemble
Sunday, October 21, noon-6:30pm Best of the New York
International Children’s
Film Festival
Saturday, October 27, 8:00pm Three Sisters from Queens
Sunday, October 28, 3:00pm Cenicienta/Cinderella
Saturday, November 17, 8:00pm I-Land
Saturday, December 1, 8:00pm I take your hand in mine
Saturday, December 8, 8:00pm Ru Sanda Rae (Beauty,
Moon, Night)
Sunday, February 3, noon-6:30pm Best of the New York
International Children’s
Film Festival
Saturday, February 9, 8:00pm Staten Island: Alive in
Wonderland
Saturday, February 23, 8:00pm Two Accordions with
Attitude
Saturday, March 1, 8:00pm Eileen Ivers & Immigrant
Soul
Sunday, March 9, 3:00pm Drum Folk
Saturday, March 15, 8:00pm An Evening of Duets
Friday, March 29, 8:00pm AXIS Dance Company
Sunday, April 6, 3:00pm This American Life
Saturday, April 12, 8:00pm Vernon Reid
Saturday, April 19, 8:00pm Colin Hay
Saturday, May 3, 3:00pm Emilio and the Enchanted
Cow
Saturday, May 17, 3:00pm The Musical Adventures of
Flat Stanley
CSI Center for the Arts: 718-982-ARTS or www.cfashows.com
