21 years of AUSTRALIAN #film #criticism #australianfilm #silvanatuccio

21yrs of Australian film criticism. Writings, essays, articles and a dissertation. 

I conceived and curated the festival Sguardi australiani (2002-2006): five editions of Australian short films, documentaries, features, archival films, animation. 

I researched and wrote the doctoral dissertation Who is behind the camera, School of Culture and Communication, Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne on Australian film culture and the films of Italian-born Australian filmmaker Giorgio Mangiamele   

Who is behind the camera, University of Melbourne, 2009: is available on the University of Melbourne Institutional Repository Minerva Access. The dissertation was mentioned by Professor Sneja Gunew in a talk (listen 2:10-2:40) given during the Ailae Summer School, University of Venice in 2010. It is also cited in the volume edited by Rosi Braidotti et.al After Cosmopolitanism (Routledge, 2012). (Sneja Gunew. "Estrangement as Pedagogy: The Cosmopolitan Vernacular", in After Cosmopolitanism. Edited by Rosi Braidotti, Patrick Hanafin and Bolette Blaagard. London: Routledge (GlassHouse Book), 2013, 132-148.)

I edited the volume Sguardi australiani. Idee, immaginari e cinema dagli antipodi (Le Mani, Genoa: 2005), listed in the National Library of Australia Collection.  The volume features contributions from Australian film scholars in translation, and highlights the breadth of Australian cinema. Preface by Italian film critic Stefano della Casa. It was launched at the late renaissance scholar Professor Bill Kent founder of the Monash University Prato Centre.

I conceived and curated the Australian film event Sguardi australiani. I supervised the translation into Italian of the subtitling

I conceived and curated the film culture event Sguardi australiani (Genova 2002-2006). The Archive of Sguardi australiani is housed at the Monash University Prato Centre, in Prato, Italy.

As part of the first edition of Sguardi australiani (2002-2006), a Lacunae project, the then publishing house Le Mani Editore supported the event with the publication of the Catalogue: Sguardi australiani, to which I contributed an essay: "Cortometraggi e registi che raccontano la metropoli e la lontananza"(Le Mani, Genoa: 2002). Sguardi australiani received patronage from the Australian Embassy in Rome, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regione Liguria and others     

I donated the archival material of Sguardi australiani to the Monash University Prato Centre and supervised the setting up of the Sguardi australiani Archive

In 2011 I donated the Archive materials of Sguardi australiani to the Monash University Prato Centre. The Archive was launched as part of Open day of the centre in the autumn of 2011. The Sguardi australiani Archive serves the community by screening films from the festival with the Italian subtitles on request from schools, university students and scholars.

I published articles on Australian cinema in international scientific journals and in books

I contributed articles to scientific journals and books on Australian film, including chapter contributions to edited volumes: La Sfida dell'arte Indigena australiana, (Jaca Book, Milan:2008) edited by Franca Tamisari and Francesca di Blasi from the University of Venice Ca Foscari; scholarly articles were published in the International Journal of Studies in Australasian Cinema and Altreitalie.

I have been a judge for the Melbourne based ATOM Awards

I served as judge for the ATOM AWARDS for several years covering the Indigenous Category and the Science, Technology and Environment Category. 

For the 2015 edition of the Milan film festival Sguardi altrove, I curated the session on Australia, selecting three Australian films from the Sguardi australiani Archive. I sat on a roundtable and for the occasion wrote two pieces on Australian film, L'ultima fuga and tre film dal Sguardi australiani Archive. I discussed the film Zach's Ceremony(2016) as part of a language workshop in Sicily in 2019.   

I curated retrospectives and spoken at international symposiums on Australian film

As part of Sguardi australiani, I presented a retrospective of the films of Tracey Moffatt at Palazzo Ducale Genoa in 2005; I also presented a retrospective of the films and photographs of Giorgio Mangiamele in his natal city Catania in 2005, and a retrospective of the films of David Vadiveloo at Palazzo Ducale Genoa in 2006.

I took part in the workshop "Australians in Italy", on invitation by Professor Bill Kent at the Monash University the Prato Centre, during which I presented a talk on the Sguardi australiani experience.

I spoke at the Symposium on Australian film as part of the London Australian Film Festival at the Barbican Centre, UK, in 2008. The paper was subsequently published in the Journal Studies in Australasian Cinema. Ian Henderson mentions me in his introduction to the first edition of the Journal. 

I spoke at the Symposium Offshore Processes at the Monash University Prato Centre in 2012. The paper is Breaking the silence: language permeating through landscape in three Australian films, Clay (1965), Mad Max (1979), Samson&Delilah (2009). At the same Symposium, I gave a talk on Australian Italian filmmaker Giorgio Mangiamele.   

I curated film screenings/ exhibition on the cinema and photography of Giorgio Mangiamele: the exhibition entitled, “Mangiamele/Melbourne”, includes films and photographs and was presented at Sguardi australiani 2004, Camogli, Italy, in July 2004 and at Zo, Centro Culture Contemporanee, Catania, Italy, on 13 April 2005. With patronage from the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Italian Institute of Culture, Melbourne, Comune di Catania. 

Silvana Tuccio PhD, June 2023

 #film #criticism #australianfilm #silvanatuccio