Italian Cuba: My dearest Pogolotti
Ten years ago, Mi Pogolotti Querido (My Beloved Pogolotti) premiered in Havana, in a packed 2000-seat theater, the Charlie Chaplin Cinema, during the 32nd Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de Havana.
It was a crowded celebration in front of an audience composed of passionate Festival-goers, the habaneros who took vacations to enjoy the films, moviegoers coming from all over Latin America, the inhabitants of Barrio Pogolotti - “ the Pogolottini”, the Italian Embassy and the Cuban authorities including the Minister of Culture Abel Prieto.
All this was due above all to the fact that the film's protagonist, Graziella Pogolotti, was present in the room. She is recognized as a leading intellectual in Cuban culture and much loved for her personal story, which sees her involved in events that permeate the history of the Cuban revolution.
Three years earlier, in 2007, I had learned of this unexpected link between Cuba and Piedmont thanks to Mariangela Marengo, from the University of Turin, and Pino Chiezzi, a former regional councilor who in 2002, on behalf of the Piedmont Region, participated with Rita Marchiori, Director of the culture sector of the Piedmont Region, in the inauguration in Havana of the exhibition of the painter Marcelo Pogolotti, son of Dino.
On that occasion, they learned about the story of the emigrant Dino Pogolotti from Giaveno and launched a series of cultural cooperation initiatives between the neighborhood, the Piedmont Region, and the Municipality of Giaveno. These initiatives also supported the production of our documentary.
After 3 years of study and research, we left, with a small crew of 5 people, for a month of filming in Havana in April 2009.
So much has changed in the last decade, many affecting life in Cuba and others, perhaps most importantly, having to do with the residents of the Barrio and all the people who helped us carry out this work. Life has gone on, but sadly, some have left us.
It happened in December 2019, perhaps because of this short time that I still can't quite put my finger on it, an important figure, legendary for us, our friend Acela Caner, has passed away.
A prominent Cuban historian and geographer, she was our artistic consultant and coordinator of historical research. I can't find words other than to say that without her, without her tireless dedication to working with us and building relationships with the Barrio community, this film would not have been possible.
Ten years later, the bond with the people and the long trail of memories they have woven with Pogolotti, Giaveno, and Piedmont as a whole remains intact. When I think about the intense work we put into conceiving and producing this documentary, the fondest memories remain those of Cuba, with the people of Pogolotti who welcomed us as if we had always been their neighbors, with Cuban friends who treated us like distant relatives finally reunited.
I hope that whoever does us the honor of watching it now will see in Mi Pogolotti Querido that atmosphere of human warmth that welcomed us ten years ago and that we still carry with us today.
Good vision
Enrica Viola