New Haven's ‘Little Italy’ Movie To Be Shown In East Haven

A documentary film about New Haven’s Little Italy that has played to packed crowds all over the area will soon have three showings in Branford and East Haven.

The film, The Village: Life in New Haven's Little Italy, was the creation of award-winning journalist Steve Hamm. It had its successful debut at last year's New Haven Documentary Film Festival.

Let Hamm tell the story of how the film came to be:

"The idea for this documentary came from the fact that I live in an apartment on Wooster Square, and I do my freelance writing in a room that looks over the square and St. Michael church. I noticed all of the funerals at the church and I thought that each funeral meant a lifetime of stories were being lost. It seemed like a good idea to try to capture some of the stories from people who were still living.

"At the same time (summer of 2017) Frank Carrano's wife, Angela, died, and he was posting items on the Wooster Square Cultural Exchange site on Facebook about his memories of Wooster Square as a kid. I know Frank from covering organized labor in the mid-1980s, so I reach out, we had lunch at Pepe's (white clam pizza) and we decided to do the project together.

"I had noticed that there have been a number of good picture books about the Italian-American community in Wooster Square, and one documentary in the early 1990s by Carol Leonetti, but modern videos were mainly just about the pizza parlors--so there was room for us to do something important.

"Frank had the central perception that animates the film--the Wooster Square neighborhood was like a village where people lived, worked, shopped, worshiped, played and shared values.

"The filming of the interviews took six months, and the editing took two more months. We collected thousands of photos from families, the New Haven Museum, collectors and libraries. The film was edited by Scott Amore, a veteran editor in the area.

'The film was made on a pro bono basis. I'm all about building community. Since we did the work pro bono, most of the sources of photos let us use them royalty free. My total costs were under $1,000.

"We have had 14 screenings so far, with a combined audience of about 1400 people, and we have nine more screenings scheduled. We thought about trying to get it on Public TV but it turns out that the Public TV business model is to charge the creators of content thousands of dollars for airing it plus forcing them to buy liability insurance policies for thousands more. So we decided to not do that."

Hamm added: "In addition to telling the stories of this fascinating community, one of our main themes is the positive impact of immigration on the USA--then and now. So, in the context of today's immigration conflicts, we favor immigrants.

"We don't charge for the screenings, and there are no tickets. We show the film (60 minutes) and then typically have a 30 minute discussion afterwards. People ask us questions, but we also want people to tell their own stories of their memories and of their immigrant ancestors. There is a lot of laughing and a bit of crying."

The two Branford showings will be: Feb. 27, 7 p.m., John Bosco Parish Center, March 7, 7 p.m. Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library, Stony Creek .

The East Haven showing is March 2, 2 p.m., Hagaman Library, East Haven.

Carrano, who is a Branford resident, said the film was a "very moving experience for him."

Carrano, who along with his family was a longtime Wooster Square resident of New Haven, said what makes the story all the more compelling is that with the issue of immigration so much in the news these days, "the film has really sparked lively conversations at all the showings."

Carrano added while there is a big audience of older citizens who come to see the movies, the movie was also used by a North Haven teacher to illustrate to his class of students "what immigration really is all about."

The whole experience, Carrano said, “has been richly rewarding.”

Hamm said he sells DVDs of the film to anyone who wants it as a keepsake. People can send checks for $15 to me at 42 Academy Street, Apt 3, New Haven, CT, 06511, and I send them the DVD.

There is also an online version, at: https://vimeo.com/255952306

Now that he has finished The Village, Hamm is working a new film: Good Cops Bad Cops.

He said it "is about the practice of policing in New Haven in the era of Trump and Black Lives Matter.

"Like The Village, I hope it will premier at the New Haven Documentary Film Festival in May."

Photos provided by Steve Hamm