ABOUT
Episode 1
Invisible Voices: A Spotlight on Italian Canadian Women Writers highlights writers from across the country and brings their work to the forefront, giving voice to the writers and the stories they tell. Italian-Canadian women have created a vast amount of literature. Their work exists in multiple languages and can be found in anthologies and several collections. Some have received critical recognition, while others are studied in schools and universities. The voices of these female writers reflect on the hardships that immigrant Italian women, had to face. This literature is a reflection of Canada and brings a unique view, not always available in mainstream Canadian writing. Many of these authors struggle to get published, and in many cases, remain invisible to mainstream culture. This is the first episode of a documentary series that will cross the country and genres, to give a voice to largely invisible female writers in our community. In the first installment, Invisible Voices: A Spotlight on Italian Canadian women, feature Gianna Patriarca, Bruna Di Giuseppe-Bertoni, Eufemia Fantetti, and Monica Meneghetti.
Episode 2
Invisible Voices II: A Spotlight on Italian Canadian Women Writers takes an in-depth critical view of the authors, their work, their community and presents an unbiased, honest examination of our cultural and societal bias when it comes to Italian women writers in Canada. In our efforts to pitch the project to our community of Italian Canadian women writers, we have been overwhelmed by the response. To date, ten (10) writers have agreed to participate in this special documentary project. This positive response demonstrates a desperate need for these writers to tell their own stories, expose the politics behind their prose, finally address the elephant in the proverbial sitting room as to how their work has been received and why have they remained largely ‘invisible’ despite the body of literature they have contributed to Canada. Equally, it will be important for all Italian Canadians to hear these stories in order for future generations will have a keen understanding of the value and importance of Italian Canadian women writers and their prolific works. As one writer put it, “As a non-traditional person, “invisible” is a frequent experience, especially within Italo-Canadian community.” We hope this documentary project will change this experience. Since we could not include all of them in one documentary, this is a second installment of this three-part documentary project that feature Licia Canton from Quebec, Caterina Edwards from Alberta, Gina Valle from Ontario and Genni Gunn from British Columbia.
Episode 3
Invisible Voices III is the third and final chapter of this series. As we have finalized the production of the first two installments, to say that the response from our community, and the community of women writers has been positive, is an understatement. We have been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm, engagement and reception this topic and theme have spurred among this community. This positive response demonstrates a desperate need for these writers to tell their own stories and equally important for all Italian Canadians to hear these stories and make them visible. As one writer put it, “As a non-traditional person, “invisible” is a frequent experience, especially within Italo-Canadian community.” We hope this documentary project will change this experience. In our final chapter, we follow each author throughout their process of building a story and doing research. We hear from the author in her own words as to what writing has been like in Canada, what it means to be acclaimed and what they expect from. We finish the piece with a poetic finish from their works and that fits into what the character is revealing to the audience.
