[Lavagna – The Beach – Blind Man’s Buff – Le Grazie]
1925 · 2m · Documentary
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.
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[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 →[Cruise from Genoa to Naples]
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