Prisoners in Paradise
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Camilla Calamandrei
Rena Ferraresi
Agnes Piva
John Coyle
Antonio Minero
Gaetano Tumiati
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
During the early part of World War II, 51,000 captured Italian soldiers were shipped to America as prisoners of war. Disillusioned and defeated, the POWs imagined a bleak fate in cold prison camps. Instead, the dumbstruck soldiers discovered they'd entered the land of plenty--the USA--a country untouched by bombs and so overflowing with food that they ate better than anyone back in Italy. So entranced were the POWs with this new world that when Italy quit the war in 1943, most of them eagerly joined the US Army in stateside support positions, gaining freedoms and building relationships with American citizens (which often turned into romances and marriages after the war). Poignant and memorable, their story reminds us that best way to win over an enemy is not to beat him, but to embrace him.
Director
Camilla Calamandrei
Cast
Rena Ferraresi
Agnes Piva
John Coyle
Antonio Minero
Gaetano Tumiati
Anna Alfonsi
Mario Alfonsi
Jacqueline Minero
Armando Boscolo
Novaro Bagnoli
Virgilio Razzo
Crew
Anna Alfonsi
Mario Alfonsi
Novaro Bagnoli
Armando Boscolo
Neal Brown
Neal Brown
Camilla Calamandrei
John Coyle
Rena Ferraresi
Nancy Kennedy
Steve Longstreth
Antonio Minero
Jacqueline Minero
Agnes Piva
Virgilio Razzo
Scott Stolz
Gaetano Tumiati
Bill Wander
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Shown at Florida Film Festival (documentary competition) June 8-17, 2001.
Shown at the IFP Market/(IFFM) in New York City September 30 - October 5, 2001.
digital video
color
