On the evening of Wednesday, September 30, we viewed a private preview screening of the film Author & Activist – The Daniela Gioseffi Story by award winning filmmaker Anton Evangelista at the Maya Deren Theatre on Second Avenue. Evangelista’s film, Umberto E is a documentary on his Italian immigrant father’s orphaned life and survival in America and won him awards.
Anton Evangelista has put together all the pieces of Daniela Gioseffi’s life and laid them bare for all to see. She is a Brooklyn Heights resident and has been a poet of renown, civil rights activist and the author of sixteen award winning books on prose and poetry. They include Blood Autumn, Women on War: International Writings:, On Prejudice: A Global Perspective and her latest book, Pioneering Italian American Culture: Escaping la vita della cucina. A satirical book on the belly dance as a feminine dance of child birth as well as sensuality entitled The Great American Belly Dance was a big seller. A class on the belly dance that my wife Judy took with Daniela was complete with outfit and zills. A whirling dervish and liberated spirit ensued, thanks to Daniela.
With remarkable photos, Ms. Gioseffi discussed her family in Italy, her grandparents, one of whom bore 20 children, her father Donato who arrived here with a limp from an accident in Italy and not speaking English. By strength of will and character he earned a college degree and became a professor and scientist. That grit was transferred to Daniela Gioseffi who kept her Italian name, dabbled in acting and then chose poetry and activism to fill her life. One still hears and feels her passion for justice through the voices of her Italian ancestors.
She defied the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) down South and was molested by one KKK chieftain. She marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and currently raises her voice against global warming and is like Pope Francis on the side of the angels for awareness of both racism and climate change.
Ms. Gioseffi who has a daughter, singer/songwriter Thea Kearney and grandchildren still looks radiant and ready to challenge the forces of bigotry and hatred. She laments the lack of progress in the fight for equality for all. Has it been quixotic? Only time will tell if we have a planet left at all.
Ms. Gioseffi ponders these issues from her apartment in Brooklyn Heights with its spectacular venues of bridges and river. That is what she has been doing to unite all humankind as one, from the “old world” to the new – building bridges and crossing rivers.
According to Anton Evangelista, Daniela makes great lasagna. This film is like great lasagna, multi layered, many ingredients, savory and unforgettable! The outstanding film maker Anton Evangelista will make you ponder the vital adrenalin that makes Daniela Gioseffi, unstoppable and what she contributes to make more perfect our vast American mosaic.
The standing room only house and the exciting audience response at the Question and Answer period afterwards indicated a large future following for this vital film. It was nice to see Mario Fratti, playwright (Nine) Maurice Edwards former president of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Lou Barrella opera lecturer, August Ventura, Verdi scholar, Alba Mazza teacher/pianist, Antonio Guarna, tenor/composer and many others from Brooklyn and around the world to whom Daniela Gioseffi is an icon.