Directed by
Annalisa Siagura
Country of Origin
United States
Runtime
23:25
Category
Italians By The Bay examines how the lives of immigrants have changed from leaving their homes in Italy to moving to the Bay Area. With the current events going on in Italy and Italian being the fastest dying language in the United States, this documentary touches the cultural dynamics, motivations, and difficulties of uprooting their lives and to start anew. The rich history of Italian immigrants in the Bay Area is celebrated, looking into their astonishing contributions to our current society.
Director Biography – Annalisa Siagura
Annalisa Siagura is a first-time filmmaker from Rome, Italy. She holds a Ph.D in Cognitive Neuroscience and works full time as a post-doc in Clinical Psychology in the Bay Area. She moved to America for her Ph.D research project in collaboration with the Psychiatry Department at University of California San Diego.
She’s always carried a deep interest in the human psyche and behavior across various cultures which inspired her to create Italians By The Bay. Her interest in filmmaking began when she was a child and often took her camera to interview people of all ages and ethnicities to hear their stories. Her love for storytelling and compassion for human beings directly carried over into her educational pursuits of learning about the human mind and condition.
In 2015 she was elected by the Italian community in the Bay Area to represent them at the Comites of San Francisco. In the same year she embarked on her first film to create a documentary about Italian immigrants.
After 3 years Annalisa completed her first film, Italians By The Bay, with the intention of creating a discussion of current Italian immigrants and their history while emphasizing the importance of unity across all groups of people and cultures.
Besides showing the film domestically in America, Annalisa plans to show the film back in her home country of Italy and Europe with the intention of building bridges to help understand different cultures, inspire compassion, and educate others on welcoming diversity amongst all walks of life.