03/09/2006

Thanks to RAI Cinema and Istituto Luce, the research that Giovanna Gagliardo began in 2004 – searching through the archives of Istituto Luce for visible traces of the revolution that led women to conquests once unimaginable and that today we could not imagine living without – continues.

Bellissime Seconda Parte (Dal 1960 a oggi dalla parte di lei) (lit. “Bellissime, Part Two (From 1960 to Today, From Her Point of View”) screens today at the Venice Film Festival in the Horizons section and will be available on DVD from October 18.

In three (quick and engaging) hours, using never before seen images, songs and interviews, Gagliardo presents the strides women have made in the last 40 years, as well as those of Italian society at large. Interviewees include, among others: Tina Anselmi (former Minister of Labour and the country’s first female politician on the national level); Gemma Capra, who recounts the day in 1972 when her husband, Inspector Calabresi, left home after having changed his tied (choosing a white one as a “symbol of his purity”) and never came back; and Barbara Contini, the governor of Nassiriya after Saddam.

The filmmaker also focuses very much on the Arab world. "The challenge facing the women of Islam is one that we must confront by asking ourselves many questions," said Gagliardo. "When we read about the Pakistani girl killed by her father or cousin, or the Tunisian girl who was beaten by her father for going to a disco, we shouldn’t be afraid to defend them out of an excess of anti-racism. I think we must by all means defend them".