I'm an Italian language student who loves movies!

I guess I was about ten in the early 1960s Midwest, when I started watching movies every day after school. The Noirs that I watched set me on the road to movie obsession.  

I mixed it up a little with some cheery classics (like Jane Eyre); little girls I wanted to be (like Margaret O'Brien); and grown-up movies (like The Marrying Kind) that I grew to understand and love more each time I saw them.

Later, as a teen loner in Milwaukee, I haunted used bookstores and movie theaters, where I caught repeated viewings of Midnight Cowboy. I never imagined that I’d end up in New York City myself! 

I teach English as a Second Language to people from all over the world, who often tell me about movies from their country that I haven't heard about before! Lucky me!

Alberto Maio, Editor

I’ve always been obsessed with true stories. When I go to the movies, it’s often to watch a documentary. When I was little I’d watch Il muro di gomma (The Rubber Wall) over and over. It’s the story of a great work of investigative journalism into a terrible massacre that took place in Italy in 1980.

I was born in Sicily and now I live in Bologna. I work as a professional journalist for radio, local and national television. I have reported from China, Lebanon, India, Ukraine, Serbia, Tanzania and Nepal. I produce and host a daily one-hour news and interview program on regional TV here in Emilia Romagna. It’s named “AriaPulita” and it’s in Italian!

Whenever I have time, I travel. So far, my favorite parts of the world are Southeast Asia and the Middle East, but I have so much left to explore! I love to go hiking, hang out with locals and taste typical food, but I also enjoyed just sitting and watching life taking place in a square in Tehran, in a market in Yangoon, in a temple in Zhejiang.

If I had to recommend a movie to someone who’s learning Italian, I’d recommend comedy! My favorite is Non ci resta che piangere (Nothing Left to Do but Cry), written and directed by two of the best Italian comedians from the ‘80s and ’90s: Massimo Troisi and Roberto Benigni. The story is kind of dumb and maybe the lines are not the easiest to understand, but you get to hear how colorful Italian can be if spoken by a guy from Tuscany or from Campania.

Michela Badii, Teacher

I have always loved stories. All stories. Even as a child, I liked to lose myself in the pages of books, cartoons or stories that adults told me. Those plots fascinated me and at the same time intrigued me.

I believe that this is how my passion for cultural anthropology and for teaching was born. Teaching and doing anthropological research are for me two indispensable ways to stay in the world, to satisfy my curiosity and my need for discovery.

I graduated from the University of Siena with a degree in Modern Literature. My thesis was on Ethnology and Semiotics. In 2008, I obtained a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris.

Currently I teach Anthropology of Food at the university and I give lessons in Italian language and culture to foreigners. This last activity allows me to combine the love for my language with the one for the exchange with other cultures, thanks to the many students from all over the world that I have been able to meet over time. You can find my Italian teacher profile here.

I can’t say that I’m a film expert, even though I have seen many films, like many people; and I don't even know what my favorite movie is, since there are so many films I've loved (1900 by Bernardo Bertolucci or The House of the Spirits by Bille August, to name two).

In any case, as for the idea of watching a film, in front of the fireplace or to the summer song of the cicadas in my beloved Tuscany, I’ll never give up!

Lucrezia Grussani, Proofreader

During my university studies, I came face to face with different cultures; that opened up new horizons in the way I see the world.

I have always been fascinated by how people perceive “the other”: people, cultures and things that are different from what they consider “normal.”

From this perspective, I started to love works of art  – films, books, music and visual art – that show the diverse ways people of various cultures see the world. Whether fiction or documentary, I think films always offer something new to help us reflect and become more self-aware and open-minded. 

One of my favorite films is Terence Malick’s The New World. I really appreciate the director’s attempt to tell the story of the encounter of two cultures from both points of view: the English and the Native American. Even though – as often happens in Hollywood movies – the director felt the need to spice up the storyline with the inclusion of a romance between Pocahontas and Captain John Smith) which probably never happened, I believe the film offers a fresh depiction of Native people that stands in stark contrast to the stereotypical ones  found in other films, such as Dances with Wolves. We so often find two types of Native Americans: the good ones, who help the Europeans; and the bad ones, who fight the invaders. In The New World, Malick’s investigation of the complex psychology and the process behind the indigenous people’s decisions and actions, reflects respect for their culture and beliefs. 

This interest of mine in always trying to find new ways to think about our world led me to get my Bachelor’s Degree in Language, Civilisation and the Science of Language from Ca’ Foscari University, and my Master’s Degree in Modern Language for International Communication and Cooperation from Università degli Studi di Padova.

I live in Vicenza and I work as a translator and proofreader in English, Italian and Spanish.