Interview with Manuela Filomena and Eufrasio Volpe on the documentary My Florita

Daniele Fioretti

Manuela Filomena is PhD candidate in Comparative Studies at Florida Atlantic University. I had the pleasure to watch her wonderful documentary My Florita, focused on the Italian American identity in South Florida, so I decided to interview her – and the producer Eufrasio Volpe – for the IAC website.

Can you tell us something about this project? How did you get the idea of making My FlorÌta?

The documentary My FlorÌta is a 60-minute film set in South Florida. This area has a large Italian community that includes both Italians who emigrated to the United States and descendants of Italian Americans who families emigrated decades ago. What makes My FlorÌta unique is that it breaks away from traditional documentary styles. While it features interviews with different people, the film is told from the perspective of a young Italian American man who reflects on his family’s history. As he examines old photos and memorabilia, his narration connects the personal stories and cultural insights of the interviewees. The film is the product of a creative collaboration with Vincenza Iadevaia. We were introduced by a mutual friend who had studied at Florida Atlantic University where I am currently pursuing my Ph.D. in Comparative Studies. Iadevaia had previously earned her doctorate in Comparative Studies from FAU. Interestingly, we both come from nearby towns in the same region of Southern Italy and thus, share a heritage that instantly created a sense of connection and common purpose. She is an expert in ethnography and migration. She teaches at Bosphorus University in Istanbul. Her passion for sharing stories about communities and cultural identities sparked this unique project, which aims to explore and celebrate Italian heritage in today’s changing world. From our first meeting, we immediately sensed a strong connection between our projects: we were heading in the same direction with complementary approaches and visions. Vincenza mainly focused on writing and production. My experience primarily involved working on set and film editing. I later earned two master’s degrees in film writing and directing and acquired film expertise through national and international collaborations. We decided to co-write the screenplay, drawing on our insights from research and scholarly sources. We realized that the focal point should be the concept of memory and the dichotomy of Italian experience and aspiration for a new life in Florida. She shared the dream of creating a documentary that would tell the story of the Italian American community that has made South Florida its new home and would shed light on the challenges faced by new generations of Italo-Floridians as they navigate the balance between their Italian heritage and the opportunities of American life. At the same time, we wanted to give voice to the newly arrived Italians whose hopes and aspirations are now intertwined with this “New New Land.” Iadevaia had authored an article entitled “Italian Floridians in South Florida: “An Oral History Collection in the New New Land” which provided source material for the film.” Both Iadevaia and Volpe, the producer of the film, entrusted me with directing the project.

How did you meet and select the interviewees?

During our doctoral studies, we both had the opportunity to engage directly with the Italo-Floridian community. We took part in their social life, listened to their stories, and shared important moments. This immersive relationship enabled us to gain a deep and authentic understanding of the reality we wanted to show on screen. When the opportunity finally arose to bring these voices to life through the film, we worked closely with the producer to carefully select which stories would best serve our visual narrative. We decided to explore the American experience through in-depth interviews both with individuals who made the journey from Italy to the United States and their descendants as well. These interviews offered an intimate look into their journeys and allowed us to depict their stories with depth and authenticity. Our goal was to identify testimonies that captured a wide range of experiences while ensuring a coherent narrative thread that could connect the personal journeys into a collective reflection. One of the main challenges that I faced was selecting and condensing these stories to fit the 60-minute structure of the documentary. Since this was not an academic paper but a cinematic work, it was also crucial to focus on visual storytelling rather than relying solely on a traditional narrative format.

All these people come from different backgrounds. Did you find any common elements in their stories?

The interviewees featured in My FlorÌta come from varied personal and cultural backgrounds, yet their stories share common elements centered around resilience, adaptation, and the pursuit of a better life in a new land. Many narratives emphasize themes of overcoming challenges associated with relocation, such as integrating into a new environment while maintaining cultural identity and traditions. A key common element is the connection to both their Italian heritage and the new South Florida landscape. The film highlights how similarities between the climate and scenery of South Florida and Southern Italy help foster this cultural continuity. Another shared aspect is the experience of hope and aspiration, particularly among recent Italian newcomers, who face the uncertainty and demands of starting anew but remain motivated to create opportunities for themselves and future generations. Overall, despite their diverse backgrounds, they collectively reflect the universal immigrant experience of balancing preservation of identity with adaptation, determination, and cultural pride.

Some themes seem to recur in different interviews, such as food, the hardships that first generation immigrants had to face, the transformative value of historical events like WW2. What is the most remarkable for you?

One element that deeply recurs in the characters of My FlorÌta is separation, both physical and emotional. In both cases, however, it involved an uprooting from their home country that often resulted in a nostalgia and desire to return, not just to the national origin, but to the very nature of themselves. This persistent nostalgia for their roots unites them. Both through memories and actual personal possessions that act as an invisible thread connecting them to the past. For many generations of Italian Americans, this reaffirmation of Italian identity has been a powerful driving force. This inner impulse pushed them to rediscover their roots and to cherish the culture, language, values, and traditions at risk of being lost over time. One of the most powerful testimonies in the film came from a female protagonist whose story left a deep impression. She shared that what she treasures most is the opportunity she was given in 1972 to continue her education after high school. At the time, some relatives tried to persuade her father not to invest in a daughter’s education and argued that her destiny as a woman would simply be to get married and have children. However, her father rejected social conventions and chose a different path for her. To this day, she remains deeply grateful for the vision that her dad had back then. Another character’s decision to return to school later in life to fill a personal void demonstrates the transformative power of learning at any age.

Stylistically speaking, I found very interesting the use of cartoons in your documentary; could you tell us something about the purpose of this choice?

The use of 2D animation to depict past events in certain scenes stems from the idea that memory is never perfectly linear or sharp. It is typically filtered, softened, liminal, and fragmented. The 2D technique helps convey this quality of recollection with greater authenticity. It embraces the haziness and emotional texture of memory. Thus, the film weaves together two dimensions: history and memory, both personal and collective. The animated sequences serve a dual purpose. On one hand, they visually reconstruct moments from the past for which no archival footage exists. On the other hand, they establish a more immediate, emotional connection with the viewer by making the interviewees’ memories visible and almost tangible. Through a simple and expressive visual style, the animation acts as a bridge between individual experience and shared memory. It opens a narrative space between what was and what is now remembered, what is told, reimagined, and passed on.

The 2D animation scenes were created using a drawing technique that works purely within the dimensions of length and width, without depth, just like traditional pencil drawings on paper. I have always had a strong personal connection to pencil sketching. It was a natural form of expression for me growing up, though over time I set it aside to pursue other creative paths. Still, I always believe in the communicative power of hand-drawn images. That’s why I chose this technique not only for its aesthetic quality, but as a conscious narrative tool, to bring to life memories, gestures, and moments that were never captured on camera, but remain vividly alive in the interviewees’ recollections.

I noticed the presence of mirrors several times in the movie: in one scene, a person is reflected in the car rearview mirror; in another one, two interviewees are filmed in profile facing each other in front of a mirror. Do you use mirrors in a symbolic way in you documentary?

The use of mirrors was a central visual device for me to depict the complexity of identity on screen. The mirror becomes a metaphor for the “double,” the coexistence of multiple selves – the discovery of being one, yet also the other, engaged in a continuous dialogue between past and present. In the two-shot interviews, even the use of the dolly and shots compositions based on reflections played an essential role. Through these camera movements, I aimed to visualize the process of identity revelation and multiplication. This suggests that identity is never fixed or singular but fluid and evolving, especially for those living between two or more cultures. In the case of the two shots, the scene where Alpha is reflecting in the car mirror, or the other character at the ballet studios, I consciously chose to use the mirror as a prop that could reflect both visually and symbolically their Italian origins and the imprint they leave on their current identity. I like to think of the mirror as that in-between space, a key concept in Gloria Anzaldúa’s theory. This border space, this “in-between,” is a condition in which we are in motion toward a new and unified identity. Equally crucial in evoking this layered emotional journey is the film’s original score, composed and arranged by Andrea Chiodetti. His music not only complements the visual storytelling but also deepens the emotional resonance of the character’s inner conflicts and transformation. Chiodetti’s compositions provide an emotional bridge that guides the viewer through the film’s themes of memory, identity and belonging.

When they discuss their Italian heritage, some interviewees talk about the reasons why they decided to go back to their roots; one in particular says that the memory of his ancestors is an encouragement to be a better human being. Do you see this push to remember and preserve their Italian ancestry as something that will be maintained in the future generations?

Yes, I believe that this drive to remember and preserve the Italian heritage will continue to resonate with future generations, especially when it is deeply connected to identity, values, and the desire to understand oneself within a broader historical and cultural context. In the film, the character Alpha, played by Will Graziano, serves as a symbolic bridge between the past and the future. His journey of discovering his roots is not just an act of nostalgia but a way to shape the man he wants to become. By reconnecting with the memory of his ancestors, he begins to ask fundamental questions: Who am I? What kind of man do I want to be? Which values will I carry with me? These are not just personal reflections but powerful reminders that our stories define us and that understanding where we come from can help clarify where we are headed. This is why taking a step back, tracing our origins and discovering who our ancestors were, what they experienced, and what they achieved becomes an essential act of awareness and continuity. It isn’t simply about preserving the past for tradition’s sake but about activating that memory to build a future shaped by choice that acknowledges those who came before us. Remembering them gives meaning to our path forward and reminds us that our actions today can become the foundation for someone else’s tomorrow.

Few questions for the producer of My Florita, Eufrasio Volpe.

Both you and the director have Irpinian roots and met thanks to this project; in what way did this shared background help you identify and explore the themes of identity and memory portrayed in the film?

Although both Manuela and I were born in Irpinia, she in Ariano Irpino and I some 40 miles south in Montella both in the province of Avellino, our formative years diverged. At the age of six, and some 12 years before she was born, I went to grade school in Mortara, a city in the province of Pavia in Lombardy.  In effect I experienced a northern Italian upbringing by southern Italian parents. Then, just before middle school, on August 30th of 1972, I disembarked on the shores of NYC after a brief greeting by the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in New York Harbor.

So, I believe that what truly was helpful in creating a connection with Manuela was my adult perception of how she came across as a confident, talented director with years of experience in the editing world.  I strongly believe that a successful documentary/film requires not just the clear vision of an experienced director, but also the well discerning eye of a skilled editor and the storytelling ability of a raconteur.  Manuela embodies all of those rare qualities.  And of course, she is an empathic individual with a tremendously generous heart and a sharp mind that cuts through to substance.

In summary the exploration of the themes of identity and memory for the film became an exercise in practicality for me rather than simply a question of theoretical approach.  As my formative memories of identity truly had a transformative effect on how I viewed myself in the multiple worlds I had already inhabited and experienced, and would continue to evolve to the present moment.

How would you describe your working relationship with the director during the production of My FlorÌta?

One word “synergistic”!