Gino: A Child of War – Film Update
The town of Torrice, nestled in the heart of Italy, witnessed a remarkable event on July 1, 2023. The Italian language version of the Gino story, “Gino: Il Bambino in Divisa”, debuted to an audience of more than 450 people in Torrice, (Lazio Region, Italy), the same small town where Gino Farnetti-Bragaglia was born and where he was found in June 1944 by his Canadian ‘guardian angels’. These Canadian soldiers cared for and nurtured this little orphan until their redeployment to North-West Europe.
Gino, now 85 years old, was present at the premiere, along with his family and descendants of the Canadian soldiers. They were joined by members of the Canadian Armed Forces with the same regimental affiliation as Gino’s ‘guardian angels’. The event was a tribute to the bond that transcends borders, cultures, and generations and was an emotional experience for all in attendance!
CTV News Article & Broadcast: https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/calgary-made-film-tells-story-of-second-world-war-orphan-1.6480310
English and French versions of the film (Gino: A Child of War, and Gino: L’Orphelin de guerre, respectively) are currently in final development and will soon premiere in Canada.
The English version of the film will premiere in Calgary on October 15, 2023 at the Calgary Italian Cultural Centre. The next premiere, on October 20, 2023, will be in Miniota, Manitoba, where many of Gino’s soldiers originated. We are in the process of organizing subsequent viewing events throughout Canada.
To book tickets for the Calgary premiere please contact Lena Angelozzi at 403- 689-8702 or by email: lenaangelozzi@gmail.com
If you are interested in having a premiere event in your community please contact:
Tony Battista, Executive Producer (tony.battista@me.com) or Karen Storwick, Producer (kstorwick@me.com).
This film is based on the Italian book authored by the Wartime Friends research group and research and interviews conducted by Marco Battista.
We are pleased to announce that Combined Forces Production Collaborative and Wartime Friends have an agreement with Double-Dagger Books in Canada to publish the English book and we anticipate it will be available just in time for the premiere in Calgary!
As a result of the great success from the Italian premiere in Torrice on Canada Day, our film team has been invited to present the project as guest speakers at this year’s Venice Film Festival Industry Conference on September 2nd, where our team has an opportunity to talk to an industry audience about the film and the collaboration between Canada and Italy. As the conference is co-hosted by Telefilm Canada, we expect to promote our film further and unfold great opportunities to share this amazing story widely!
While in Venice, we are also hoping to secure network distribution in Canada and internationally.
With sincere thanks to donors and sponsors, as well a grant from Veterans Affairs Canada Commemoration Program, we have been able to raise more than $55,000 of our original $85,000 budget to produce this film. We still have significant expenses in front of us for promotion and final film development, and would like to call on those who are able to consider donations and sponsorship. All donors will be invited to attend one of the viewings in Canada. Major business and group sponsorships ($2500 and higher) will be recognized in all promotional material. Interested donors and sponsors are encouraged to contact Tony Battista (tony.battista@me.com) or Karen Storwick (kstorwick@me.com).
We look forward to seeing you at one of our viewing events soon!
With our sincere gratitude,
The Gino film project team