Tuesday, October 24 at 6:30pm
Western Wyoming Community College, Room 1302
Light reception to follow in the Atrium
Rock Springs, WY
About the Event:
Rock Springs filmmaker, Mark Pedri, and scholars, Matteo Pretelli (University of Naples "L'Orientale") and Laura E. Ruberto (Berkeley City College), will talk about their research and work relating to the Italian presence in Wyoming. Pedri’s documentary, Dear Sirs, about his grandfather’s experience as a POW in Europe, Pretelli’s new research project on Italian and other immigrant groups in Rock Springs, and Ruberto’s research on the Douglas, Wyoming murals painted by Italian POWs. The evening will include excerpts from their work, in addition to a conversation about each of their connections and interest in Italians in Wyoming. The event is free and open to the public. A light reception provided by the Tyrolean Trentini of Wyoming Club will follow the presentation.
This event has been made possible by the Wesswick Foundation.
About the Speakers:
Matteo Pretelli
Matteo Pretelli is Associate Professor of the history of North America at the University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’. He has taught and conducted research at Italian, U.S., British, and Australian universities, including New York University and the University of Warwick. He works mainly on Italian emigration to the United States and on relations between Italy and the United States. He is the author of several monographs including, with Francesco Fusi, Soldati e patrie: I combattenti alleati di origine italiana nella Seconda guerra mondiale (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2022). Most recently, Matteo has just curated a photographic book on John F. Kennedy’s visit to Naples in 1963.
Laura E. Ruberto
Laura E. Ruberto is a Humanities professor at Berkeley City College where she teaches Film Studies and Cultural Studies. Her research interests include film, material culture, and vernacular culture within Italian migration and transnational contexts. She is the author of Gramsci, Migration, and the Representation of Women’s Work in Italy and the U.S. Her co-edited publications include Monuments, Memorials, and Italian Migrations, Borderless Italy/Italia senza frontiere, the two volumes New Italian Migrations to the United States, Italian Americans and Television, and Italian Neorealism and Global Cinema. She is a Mellon Foundation/ACLS Faculty Fellow and a Fulbright Scholar. Currently, she is working on a project about the art and architecture made by Italian prisoners of war during World War II, including in Wyoming, for which she received a Wyoming State Historical Society Lola Homsher Endowment Fund Research award in 2020.
Mark Pedri
Mark Pedri is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and writer from Southwestern Wyoming. Mark founded Burning Torch Productions in 2011 to focus on character-driven stories from the backcountry and backroads of the world. His films have played at international festivals, on national PBS, and in screening tours around the world. Prior to directing films, Mark managed the Episodic Storytelling program at Sundance Institute. Mark has an MFA in Producing from the University of Southern California and an MA in Communication and Journalism from the University of Wyoming. For his most recent film he cycled across Germany to retrace the route of his grandfather who was a Prisoner of War in WWII.
Western Wyoming Community College, Room 1302
Light reception to follow in the Atrium
Rock Springs, WY
About the Event:
Rock Springs filmmaker, Mark Pedri, and scholars, Matteo Pretelli (University of Naples "L'Orientale") and Laura E. Ruberto (Berkeley City College), will talk about their research and work relating to the Italian presence in Wyoming. Pedri’s documentary, Dear Sirs, about his grandfather’s experience as a POW in Europe, Pretelli’s new research project on Italian and other immigrant groups in Rock Springs, and Ruberto’s research on the Douglas, Wyoming murals painted by Italian POWs. The evening will include excerpts from their work, in addition to a conversation about each of their connections and interest in Italians in Wyoming. The event is free and open to the public. A light reception provided by the Tyrolean Trentini of Wyoming Club will follow the presentation.
This event has been made possible by the Wesswick Foundation.
About the Speakers:
Matteo Pretelli
Matteo Pretelli is Associate Professor of the history of North America at the University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’. He has taught and conducted research at Italian, U.S., British, and Australian universities, including New York University and the University of Warwick. He works mainly on Italian emigration to the United States and on relations between Italy and the United States. He is the author of several monographs including, with Francesco Fusi, Soldati e patrie: I combattenti alleati di origine italiana nella Seconda guerra mondiale (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2022). Most recently, Matteo has just curated a photographic book on John F. Kennedy’s visit to Naples in 1963.
Laura E. Ruberto
Laura E. Ruberto is a Humanities professor at Berkeley City College where she teaches Film Studies and Cultural Studies. Her research interests include film, material culture, and vernacular culture within Italian migration and transnational contexts. She is the author of Gramsci, Migration, and the Representation of Women’s Work in Italy and the U.S. Her co-edited publications include Monuments, Memorials, and Italian Migrations, Borderless Italy/Italia senza frontiere, the two volumes New Italian Migrations to the United States, Italian Americans and Television, and Italian Neorealism and Global Cinema. She is a Mellon Foundation/ACLS Faculty Fellow and a Fulbright Scholar. Currently, she is working on a project about the art and architecture made by Italian prisoners of war during World War II, including in Wyoming, for which she received a Wyoming State Historical Society Lola Homsher Endowment Fund Research award in 2020.
Mark Pedri
Mark Pedri is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and writer from Southwestern Wyoming. Mark founded Burning Torch Productions in 2011 to focus on character-driven stories from the backcountry and backroads of the world. His films have played at international festivals, on national PBS, and in screening tours around the world. Prior to directing films, Mark managed the Episodic Storytelling program at Sundance Institute. Mark has an MFA in Producing from the University of Southern California and an MA in Communication and Journalism from the University of Wyoming. For his most recent film he cycled across Germany to retrace the route of his grandfather who was a Prisoner of War in WWII.
