The Lost World - Short Films of Vittorio De Seta (1950)s

Heralded by Martin Scorsese as “an anthropologist who speaks with the voice of a poet,” Italian director Vittorio De Seta produced a string of extraordinary short documentaries in the 1950s that distill their subjects to pure cinema. Shooting in vivid color in the rural villages of Sicily, Sardinia, and Calabria, De Seta captured the rhythms and rituals of everyday life among the fishermen, miners, shepherds, and farmers who continued to live and work according to the preindustrial traditions of their ancestors. Presented without voiceover so that the rhapsodic visuals speak for themselves, these miniature marvels stand as essential, ennobling records of a vanished world.
Restored by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation.

A programme of restored short films by De Seta, featuring:

• The Age of the Swordfish (1955) [Lu Tempu di li Pisci Spata]
• Islands of Fire (1954) [Isole di Fuoco]
• Easter in Sicily (1955) [Pasqua in Sicilia]
• Peasants of the Sea (1955) [Contadini del Mare]
• Golden Parable (1955) [Parabola D'Oro]
• Solfatara (1955) [Surfarara]
• Fishing Boats (1958) [Pescherecci]
• Shepherds of Orgosolo (1958) [Pastori di Orgosolo]
• A Day in Barbagia (1958) [Un Giorno in Barbagia]