The life imprinted on film of surveyor Angelo Selleri, his wife Adele Messieri, a teacher, and their three children. In the films of the Selleri family, almost exclusively 8mm films made by Angelo, a vivid portrait emerges of middle-class people observing and documenting the world to which they belong. In addition to footage of family life in Bologna and in some seaside and mountain resorts, some films focusing on everyday rituals, places and work activities are of particular interest. Among others: fishing in the Venetian lagoon, the Bologna airport in 1962, the rice fields of Campotto d’Argenta with the rice-workers at work, in the early 1960s, a women’s scout meeting in Pontecchio Marconi, near Bologna, the port of Ravenna and the work of the fishermen on their boats, glimpses of the SAROM refinery (Società Anonima Raffinazione Oli Minerali), the total eclipse of the sun in 1961 near the Bologna Astronomical Observatory, the astronomical station in Loiano, the last tram ride in Bologna on 3 November 1963, the construction of the Brisighella aqueduct, whose director of works was Selleri himself, and a day at the Montessori Carducci nursery school in Bologna in 1966.
The user can explore the filmic background through a wide selection of sequences shot by Selleri. Digitised film materials can be viewed in chronological order or via the menu. Short texts, inserted in titles, captions or superimposed on images, introduce, contextualise and give precise indications about people, places and situations. The information was gathered through careful research, documentation and cataloguing. Le informazioni sono state raccolte attraverso un’attenta ricerca, documentazione e catalogazione.
(texts edited by Karianne Fiorini)
Color, exterior day: filmmaker’s two children together with cousin walk down a street in Chieti; racing and games on electric cars; procession of the Madonna along the street. Exterior day: footage from a hillside of Scanno village and lake; in the village on the street: the houses, the church tower, the “Central Hotel”; the filmmaker’s son in a boat on the lake; footage of the lake from the shoreline and of a paddleboat on the water; forest walk and chairlifts; panoramic footage from the chairlift in motion.
Colour, exterior day: children playing table football under the veranda of a chalet; the cameraman’s wife sunbathing in a bikini on a mattress lying on the sand; his wife and daughter under the beach umbrella; footage from the beach of his wife and children at the “Lauretta” chalet; his wife and children swimming in the sea; various phases of the swim; the family under the beach umbrella; more footage of his daughter swimming in the sea; the children diving into the sea with masks and flippers; various shots of the swims.
Colour, exterior day, footage of a fountain in the square in Bari; a helicopter on display together with a small tourist plane; footage of the crowd of visitors; more footage of helicopters and planes on display; the filmmaker’s daughter posing in front of a fountain; footage of the city and car traffic. Colour, interior (in the house): the filmmaker’s wife offering sweets to the guests; children eating a cake sitting at a table; the cake with candles; the filmmaker’s daughter blowing out the candles and cutting the cake.
Colour, outside day, carnival party in Piazza Salotto in Pescara (1978); roundabout of children in masks, confetti throwing. Esterno giorno (1979), shot in camera car: meadows occupied by cars and caravans; picnic at Scanno: two women sitting on a sheet spread out on the grass winding a skein of wool; the cameraman lingers on other tourists crowding the surrounding meadows and on the numerous cars parked on the side of the road; more women with a skein of wool; behind them we see a row of parked cars; in a boat on the lake.
Colour, outside day: shots of the communicant and various people leaving the church; the daughter of the cameraman in her first communion dress dances on the balcony of the house together with another little girl, views of the surrounding landscape; the daughter of the cameraman walks down the street together with her mother. Colour, exterior day: view of the square in front of Padre Pio’s shrine, various views of the place, the filmmaker’s children walk among some ruins, various views of the place.
Colour, daytime exterior: panoramic views of the surrounding landscape; various shots of military exercises with tanks, soldiers posing in a break and during a meal.
B/w, outside day, at the seaside: the filmmaker’s wife in the water with her daughters; shots of various friends and daughters; the beach crowded with people; various situations on the beach; shots of the family under the parasol. In the city, street shots: the filmmaker’s wife looking out from the balcony with her daughters; various shots during a trip to the mountains.
Colour, outside day Ozone Park – New York: views of the neighbourhood where Abruzzi’s relatives live, camera car shots of the motorway; visit to the rides of Abruzzi’s relatives; panoramic views of New York skyscrapers; busy streets.
Colour, interior (at home): various situations during lunch with friends, the filmmaker’s wife in the kitchen preparing egg pasta, shots during lunch, women eating in the kitchen, the birthday girl in front of the birthday cake. Colour, interior: the filmmaker’s daughter blows out the candles; children’s games in the living room, women make sausages in the kitchen.
