Giorgio Mangiamele
Encyclopedia
Giorgio Mangiamele was an Italian/Australian photographer and filmmaker who made a unique contribution to the production of Australian art cinema in the 1950s
and 60s
. His films included Il Contratto (or The Contract) (1953), The Spag (1962), Ninety Nine Per Cent (1963) and Clay
(1965). Clay was selected for competition at the Cannes Film Festival
in 1965.
In 2011 the National Film and Sound Archive
of Australia restored four of his most notable films and Ronin Films released them on DVD. Three of the films also screened at the 2011 Melbourne International Film Festival
.
. As a police stills photographer for the Polizia Scientifica (Police Forensics), he captured images of crime scenes including fingerprints. He also learned the essentials of filmmaking by shooting 16mm
surveillance footage of demonstrations and riots intended for screening to magistrates in court. During his fifth year with the police, Mangiamele studied journalism at Rome University, ‘learning to see the essentials, to use the minimum of words’, a principle he was to apply to his Australian filmmaking.
In 1952 Mangiamele boarded the Castel Felice to migrate to Australia.
(1948), Mangiamele directed and appeared in his first feature film, Il Contratto
, on a ₤500 budget. The story tells of the challenges faced by four Italian migrants after their arrival to Australia, and was based on the stories that Mangiamele had heard from the Melbourne Italian community around him. The film was shot without sound on 16mm stock with the intention of adding an Italian-language soundtrack later. But Il Contratto was never completed and the version that survives is a mute rough cut.
Subsequent films included The Brothers (1958) and two versions of The Spag (1962). The released version of The Spag won an Honourable Mention in the 1962 AFI Awards, the judges calling it ‘a remarkable attempt at creative filmmaking’.
The 47-minute Ninety Nine Per Cent (1963) was Mangiamele’s only comedy and the last of his films to deal with migrant themes. Ninety Nine Per Cent blends the influences of Italian stage farce and the knockabout comedy of silent era and silent-influenced films including the 1940s–'60s features of French director-actor Jacques Tati
.
Next came the feature-length Clay
(1965). Costing ₤10,750, it was shot over a seven-week period at the Montsalvat
artists’ colony in the Melbourne
suburb of Eltham
. Clay employed a mixture of Australian and European-born actors in a story of a man on the run from police who falls in love with the woman who shelters him. Mangiamele mortgaged his home and studio to make the film, and eight of its actors and technicians contributed to the budget by agreeing to accept payment when the film moved into profit.
In 1965 Clay was chosen for competition at the Cannes Film Festival
, where it was acclaimed for its visual potency. The film won the Silver Award, the Silver Medallion and Kodak Silver Trophy at the 1965 AFI Awards
. Following Clay’s commercial disappointment, Giorgio Mangiamele didn't make another film until Beyond Reason (1970).
Mangiamele continued to earn a living as a portrait and event photographer, and worked as a cinecameraman for Tim Burstall
, shooting 13 episodes of the Sebastian the Fox (1963) TV series, and documentaries on the artworks of Gil Jamieson
and Matcham Skipper. He travelled to New Guinea in June 1979 and until 1982 made five documentaries on contract to the Papua New Guinea
Office of Information. These films were promotional as well as educational, with one, Sapos (1982), being made in PNG pidgin
language. During this time Mangiamele also trained a PNG crew in all aspects of filmmaking, forming the basis of an ongoing PNG government film unit.
Mangiamele always planned to make more films and he worked as a stills photographer and screenwriter, doing occasional lectures for film courses until he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease
in 2000. He died on 13 May 2001.
Mangiamele married occupational therapist (and later, abstract painter) Rosemary Cuming (born 19 October 1943, in Melbourne) in New Guinea in 1979, a year after they first met in Carlton.
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
and 60s
60s
-Significant people:* Boudicca, rebellious British queen* Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, Roman general* Julius Civilis, leader of the Batavian rebellion against the Romans...
. His films included Il Contratto (or The Contract) (1953), The Spag (1962), Ninety Nine Per Cent (1963) and Clay
Clay (1965 film)
Clay is a 1965 Australian drama film directed by Giorgio Mangiamele. The film was nominated for the Golden Palm award at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival, but it lost to The Knack ...and How to Get It.-Plot:...
(1965). Clay was selected for competition at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
in 1965.
In 2011 the National Film and Sound Archive
National Film and Sound Archive
The National Film and Sound Archive is Australia’s audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of audiovisual materials and related items...
of Australia restored four of his most notable films and Ronin Films released them on DVD. Three of the films also screened at the 2011 Melbourne International Film Festival
Melbourne International Film Festival
The Melbourne International Film Festival is an acclaimed annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1951, making it one of the oldest in the World....
.
Early life
Mangiamele, born in Catania, Sicily on 13 August 1926, was the son of a toymaker. He enjoyed drawing and painting as a child but bought his first still camera after he decided that ‘painting was too slow’ and that cameras were able to catch ‘that fraction of a second’. After leaving school he studied fine arts in Catania and joined the State Police in RomeRoma
- Places :Italy* Rome, the capital of Italy, is called Roma in Italian and some other languages* Roma Tre University, a university located in Rome, Italy, and founded in 1992...
. As a police stills photographer for the Polizia Scientifica (Police Forensics), he captured images of crime scenes including fingerprints. He also learned the essentials of filmmaking by shooting 16mm
16 mm film
16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
surveillance footage of demonstrations and riots intended for screening to magistrates in court. During his fifth year with the police, Mangiamele studied journalism at Rome University, ‘learning to see the essentials, to use the minimum of words’, a principle he was to apply to his Australian filmmaking.
In 1952 Mangiamele boarded the Castel Felice to migrate to Australia.
Career
Influenced by Bicycle ThievesBicycle Thieves
Bicycle Thieves , also known as The Bicycle Thief, is a 1948 Italian neorealist film directed by Vittorio De Sica. It tells the story of a poor man searching the streets of Rome for his stolen bicycle, which he needs to be able to work. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Luigi...
(1948), Mangiamele directed and appeared in his first feature film, Il Contratto
Il Contratto
Il Contratto is a 1953 Australian film from Giorgio Mangiamele and Italian migrants in Australia.-External links:* at Australian Screen Online...
, on a ₤500 budget. The story tells of the challenges faced by four Italian migrants after their arrival to Australia, and was based on the stories that Mangiamele had heard from the Melbourne Italian community around him. The film was shot without sound on 16mm stock with the intention of adding an Italian-language soundtrack later. But Il Contratto was never completed and the version that survives is a mute rough cut.
Subsequent films included The Brothers (1958) and two versions of The Spag (1962). The released version of The Spag won an Honourable Mention in the 1962 AFI Awards, the judges calling it ‘a remarkable attempt at creative filmmaking’.
The 47-minute Ninety Nine Per Cent (1963) was Mangiamele’s only comedy and the last of his films to deal with migrant themes. Ninety Nine Per Cent blends the influences of Italian stage farce and the knockabout comedy of silent era and silent-influenced films including the 1940s–'60s features of French director-actor Jacques Tati
Jacques Tati
Jacques Tati was a French filmmaker, working as a comedic actor, writer and director. In a poll conducted by Entertainment Weekly of the Greatest Movie Directors Tati was voted the 46th greatest of all time...
.
Next came the feature-length Clay
Clay (1965 film)
Clay is a 1965 Australian drama film directed by Giorgio Mangiamele. The film was nominated for the Golden Palm award at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival, but it lost to The Knack ...and How to Get It.-Plot:...
(1965). Costing ₤10,750, it was shot over a seven-week period at the Montsalvat
Montsalvat
Montsalvat is an artist colony in Eltham, Victoria, Australia, established by Justus Jorgensen in 1934. It is home to over a dozen buildings, houses and halls set amongst richly established gardens on 48,562 m2 of land...
artists’ colony in the Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
suburb of Eltham
Eltham, Victoria
Eltham is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 20 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Nillumbik. At the 2006 Census, Eltham had a population of 17,581....
. Clay employed a mixture of Australian and European-born actors in a story of a man on the run from police who falls in love with the woman who shelters him. Mangiamele mortgaged his home and studio to make the film, and eight of its actors and technicians contributed to the budget by agreeing to accept payment when the film moved into profit.
In 1965 Clay was chosen for competition at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, where it was acclaimed for its visual potency. The film won the Silver Award, the Silver Medallion and Kodak Silver Trophy at the 1965 AFI Awards
Australian Film Institute Awards
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award, known as the AACTA Award , is an accolade presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts . The awards recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry and television industry, including directors,...
. Following Clay’s commercial disappointment, Giorgio Mangiamele didn't make another film until Beyond Reason (1970).
Mangiamele continued to earn a living as a portrait and event photographer, and worked as a cinecameraman for Tim Burstall
Tim Burstall
Tim Burstall was an Australian film director, writer and producer, best known for the motion picture Alvin Purple....
, shooting 13 episodes of the Sebastian the Fox (1963) TV series, and documentaries on the artworks of Gil Jamieson
Gil Jamieson
Gil Jamieson was an Australian painter. Jamieson was born in the central Queensland town of Monto in 1934 and died there in 1992.-Career:...
and Matcham Skipper. He travelled to New Guinea in June 1979 and until 1982 made five documentaries on contract to the Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
Office of Information. These films were promotional as well as educational, with one, Sapos (1982), being made in PNG pidgin
Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...
language. During this time Mangiamele also trained a PNG crew in all aspects of filmmaking, forming the basis of an ongoing PNG government film unit.
Mangiamele always planned to make more films and he worked as a stills photographer and screenwriter, doing occasional lectures for film courses until he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease
Motor neurone disease
The motor neurone diseases are a group of neurological disorders that selectively affect motor neurones, the cells that control voluntary muscle activity including speaking, walking, breathing, swallowing and general movement of the body. They are generally progressive in nature, and can cause...
in 2000. He died on 13 May 2001.
Personal life
Mangiamele met his first wife, Dorotea Hofmann (born 20 May 1922, in Leipzig, Germany), at the Rushworth Migrant Camp in Victoria after migrating to Australia in 1952. They had two daughters, Suzanne and Claudia. They couple divorced in 1977.Mangiamele married occupational therapist (and later, abstract painter) Rosemary Cuming (born 19 October 1943, in Melbourne) in New Guinea in 1979, a year after they first met in Carlton.
External links
- Giorgio Mangiamele Screenography.
- 'Rediscovering Mangiamele', National Film and Sound ArchiveNational Film and Sound ArchiveThe National Film and Sound Archive is Australia’s audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of audiovisual materials and related items...
of Australia - Graham Shirley's Portrait of Giorgio Mangiamele on australianscreen online
- 'Giorgio', Senses of Cinema, Quentin Turnour, Issue No. 14, June 2001
- 'A Profile of Giorgio Mangiamele', Senses of Cinema, Alex Castro, Issue No. 4, March 2000
- 'Giorgio Mangiamele – Passionate filmmaker', Scott Murray, Senses of Cinema, Issue No.14, June 2001
- 'Il Contratto' on australianscreen online
- 'Ninety Nine Percent' on australianscreen online
- 'Clay' on australianscreen online