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Winning Film Projects 2017

The finalists listed below were selected to receive $8,000 each to fund their film projects. The selection committee believes each of them presents a specific vision for the exploration of truly interesting and dynamic themes. Previews of the three finalists were screened during NIAF’s 42nd Anniversary Gala Weekend, on November 4, 2017, and the winner “Italian American Baseball Family” by Roberto Angotti was announced during the Gala Awards Dinner.


Roberto Angotti
The Italian American Baseball Family
Winner
A Film Studies Major at Claremont McKenna, whose documentary film
The Italian American Baseball Family will relate how Italian Americans
assimilated into popular culture through America’s favorite pastime.

Runner Ups

Kirsten Keppel
Ringraziamenti: The Saint Joseph’s Day Table Tradition
A videographer of the Abruzzo and Molise Heritage Society in Washington D.C., whose documentary film will explore “The St. Joseph’s Day Table” and its significance in Italian and Italian American culture.
Margaret Sclafani
Saints of Little Italy
An Anthropology Major at Bryn Mawr College/Haverford College, whose documentary film will examine the relevance of street and religious festivals in Italian American communities through the formation and subsequent demolishment of New York City’s Our Lady of Loreto Church.

Additional Grant Recipients

Matteo Zengaro
I Sopravvissuti: The Survivors, Italian Americans in the Mississippi Delta
A History and Psychology Major at Delta State University, whose documentary film will hone in on the rich history of Italian Americans in the Mississippi Delta, an area often overlooked when exploring the history of our culture.
Dylan Maccarone
Italo Americani (2017)
A Documentary Film Major at Hampshire College, whose documentary film will take him to Italy, delving into the conditions that caused a mass migration of Italians to America in the early 1900’s, while questioning whether conditions today could prompt a reverse migration.