Levent is Moving Away
★ 10 · 2024 · 25m · Documentary
On their last night at his house, Levent and his friends embark on a journey of smokes, treats and nostalgia.
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[Lavagna – The Beach – Blind Man’s Buff – Le Grazie]
1925
A brief amateur silent film (1'54", DCP from 9.5mm reversal, 16 fps) without intertitles, sourced from Fondazione Home Movies – Archivio Nazionale del Film di Famiglia, Bologna. It forms part of a larger group of 27 amateur 9.5mm films attributed to Nena Lavello, who was 16 years old at the time of filming. Shot during the spring and summer of 1925, the collection documents a range of domestic and travel scenes, including visits to Sicily, Campania, and northern Italy. This particular film captures moments of leisure and companionship on the beach at Lavagna, reflecting the filmmaker’s early engagement with light, composition, and movement. As noted by Michele Manzolin in the 2025 Pordenone Silent Film Festival catalogue, the footage serves as a visual record of youthful play and friendship, offering insight into the personal and expressive potential of early amateur filmmaking.
More info →[Cruise from Genoa to Naples]
1934
A silent amateur 9.5mm reversal film presented without intertitles. Preserved by Fondazione Home Movies – Archivio Nazionale del Film di Famiglia, Bologna, the film documents a short cruise aboard the ocean liner Rex, departing Genoa on 17 April 1934 and arriving in Naples the following morning. Organised by Genoa’s Company Recreation Club, the voyage served as a preparatory run before the Rex’s transatlantic crossings. The footage includes scenes of the ship and its passengers, with Ludovico Maria Chierici and his son Enrico alternating use of the 9.5mm camera. As Paolo Simoni notes in the 2025 Pordenone Silent Film Festival catalogue, the Rex—a symbol of Fascist Italy and maritime ambition—was later immortalised in Fellini’s Amarcord, despite never having sailed the Adriatic.
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Tantos Domingos
2023
A staged birthday celebration and a visit to the director’s father’s home. From the interplay of memory and imagination, the film explores how family archives shape fictions of the past.
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Memory
2007 · ★ 4
Memory is a collaboration with musician Noah Lennox (Panda Bear), exploring the relationship between a musician and filmmaker and their personal reflection on memories. From Super 8 home movies and entirely handmade, this film explores familiar memories, the present moment combined with past experiences and how it all seems to evade from our present memory.
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The Home Movies of Eva Braun
1983
Notable for providing a bucolic, personal view of high-ranking Nazis. Eva Braun was the longtime romantic companion to Adolf Hitler, as well as a photographer and amateur filmmaker. Her 8mm Agfacolor-stock home movies, recorded at her leisure, were seized by the US Army in 1945. They were subsequently assembled into 8 reels, from 28 reels of original camera negatives. The US National Archives received this 8-reel film in 1947, and in 2012 began the digital restoration process.
More info →[Lavagna – Tug-of-War]
1925
A silent amateur film with a runtime of 1 minute and 28 seconds (DCP from 9.5mm reversal, 16 fps), presented without intertitles. Preserved by Fondazione Home Movies – Archivio Nazionale del Film di Famiglia, Bologna, the film documents a game of tug-of-war on the beach at Lavagna during the summer of 1925. A group of young participants, dressed in bathing suits, engage in the activity while a dog observes from the sidelines. The footage is notable for its stable tripod-based composition and the use of horizontal camera movement to follow the action. At age 16, Lavello demonstrates early technical proficiency and an interest in capturing spontaneous social interaction. As noted by Michele Manzolini in the 2025 Pordenone Silent Film Festival catalogue, the film contributes to a broader visual record of leisure and informal play within early amateur cinema.
More info →[Lavagna – Rowing. Diving]
1925
A silent amateur film with a runtime of 1 minute and 20 seconds (DCP from 9.5mm reversal, 16 fps), presented without intertitles. Preserved by Fondazione Home Movies – Archivio Nazionale del Film di Famiglia, Bologna, the film captures scenes of rowing and diving during the summer of 1925 in Lavagna. It forms part of a larger collection of 9.5mm films discovered in 2006 in the cellar of Villa Rocca by Lavello’s grandson, Enrico Vassallo, and donated to the archive in 2007. Restored in 2025 using a 2K wet scanning process to mitigate damage from fungal mould, the footage reflects the technical limitations of manual camera operation, including occasional acceleration due to uneven crank rotation. As noted by Michele Manzolini, the film contributes to a broader visual record of informal leisure and early amateur cinematography in interwar Italy.
More info →1. In the Port of Genoa, Sailing Ship
1928
1°. Nel porto di Genova, Veliero ("1. In the Port of Genoa, Sailing Ship") is a 1928 silent amateur film by Guglielmo Baldassini, preserved as a 2K DCP from a 9.5mm reversal print without intertitles. Held by Fondazione Home Movies in Bologna, the film shows a sailing ship entering Genoa’s port, likely shot from a small boat. Baldassini, a Milanese painter and etcher, used the Pathé Baby format to capture landscapes and seascapes, often as references for his artwork. His archive includes 95 reels filmed between 1926 and the early 1930s, focusing on family, Milan, coastal scenes, and mountains. He developed his films at home, experimenting with tinting, toning, and exposure correction. Many reels show emulsion decay due to aging and chemical treatments. Notes by Michele Manzolini and Mirco Santi appear in the 44th Pordenone Silent Film Festival catalogue.
More info →[Lavagna – The Beach – A Sailing Ship – The Cabanas]
1925
A silent amateur film directed by Nena Lavello. It is preserved as a 2K DCP (1'31" at 16 fps) from a 9.5mm reversal print without intertitles, held by Fondazione Home Movies – Archivio Nazionale del Film di Famiglia in Bologna. According to Michele Manzolini in the 44th Pordenone Silent Film Festival catalogue, the film was likely shot in Lavagna, where the Lavello family spent extended stays at their country house, Villa Rocca. The footage captures leisure activities of Nena Lavello and her group of friends, known locally as the “robustine” for their energetic and athletic lifestyle. Scenes include beach outings, sailing, and games. The Pathé Baby camera used for filming was purchased in April 1925 by her father Arturo Lavello, possibly for travel or as a gift. The film reflects moments of youthful recreation along the Ligurian coast
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Double Exposed
2018
Filmmaker Julie Buck explores her grandfather’s collection of Super 8 footage; the revelations behind the captured moments of joy reveal dark truths.
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Reflejos
2021
Two generations dialogue through the images they filmed of their children, a reflection of the emotional bond that arises from their involvement with what was shot.
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Erna, Helmut and the Nazis
2021 · ★ 7.3
Germany, 1929. Helmut Machemer and Erna Schwalbe fall madly in love and marry in 1932. Everything indicates that a bright future awaits them; but then, in 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party rise to power and their lives are suddenly put in danger because of Erna's Jewish ancestry.
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