Idanna Pucci (born December 25, 1945) is an Italian writer and documentary filmmaker, and a member of the prominent

Pucci family The Pucci family has been a prominent noble family in Florence over the course of many centuries. A recent notable member of this family was Emilio Pucci, an Italian fashion designer who founded a clothing company after World War II. History ...

of Florence.

Early life

She moved from Florence to New York City at age nineteen to work for her uncle, the fashion designer

Emilio Pucci Don Emilio Pucci, Marchese di Barsento (; 20 November 1914 – 29 November 1992) was an Italian aristocrat, fashion designer and politician. He and his eponymous company are synonymous with geometric prints in a kaleidoscope of colors. Early l ...

, at his boutique within the luxury department store

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street and ...

. In 1970 she and Count Hugues de Montalembert were married in Florence; the couple divorced in 1979.

Career

During the 1970s, Pucci traveled extensively throughout Indonesia, Southeast Asia, Japan, and across the Soviet Union on the Trans-Siberian Railway, an experience she wrote about which was published in The Asia Magazine. While studying for her degree in Comparative Literature at Columbia University, Pucci received a grant from the Margaret Mead Institute of Intercultural Studies for a project entitled ''The Prince and the Pauper'': ''Two Balinese Portraits''. She went on to complete a book, ''The Epic of Life: A Balinese Journey of the Soul'', about the ceiling paintings of the Kertha Gosa, the court of justice at the former royal

Klungkung Palace The Klungkung Palace, officially Puri Agung Semarapura, is a historical building complex situated in Semarapura, the capital of the Klungkung Regency (kabupaten) on Bali, Indonesia. The palace (puri) was erected at the end of the 17th century, but ...

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. Her next book, ''The Trials of Maria Barbella'', released in 1996, chronicles the story of a young Italian immigrant who in 1895 was sentenced by the State of New York to be the first woman executed in the newly invented

electric chair An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...

. After obtaining the International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance in Geneva, she served as an electoral officer during the 1999 referendum for independence in East Timor. Pucci's first film, ''Eugenia of Patagonia'', was a documentary about her great-aunt, who founded a town in remote Patagonia and served as mayor of a vast region in southern Chile for decades. In 2005 it screened at

Films de Femmes A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

and

Avignon Film Festival The Avignon Film Festival (created 1984), also known as the Avignon/New York Film Festival or Rencontres Cinématographiques Franco-Américain d'Avignon, took place every year in Avignon, France along with a twin film festival organised in New Yo ...

in France, and at Festival Cinema Delle Donne in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, where it won the Audience Prize for Documentary. In 2009, Umbrage Editions published her book ''Brazza in Congo: A Life and Legacy'', an illustrated biography of the explorer Pierre Pietro Savorgnan di Brazzà, the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

of the capital of the

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

Brazzaville Brazzaville (, kg, Kintamo, Nkuna, Kintambo, Ntamo, Mavula, Tandala, Mfwa, Mfua; Teke: ''M'fa'', ''Mfaa'', ''Mfa'', ''Mfoa''Roman Adrian Cybriwsky, ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture'', ABC-CLI ...

, who was known for his pioneering struggle for the rights of Africans in the late 19th century. Along with her husband Terence Ward, whom she married in 1995, Pucci curated simultaneous exhibitions at

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...

Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, located at 24 West 12th Street in Manhattan, is the home of the Department of Italian Studies at New York University. History Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò was founded in 1990 thanks to a donation from the Baroness ...

and the

National Arts Club The National Arts Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and members club on Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 1898 by Charles DeKay, an art and literary critic of the ''New York Times'' to "stimulate, foster, and promote public ...

. Pucci and Ward also produced the documentary '' Black Africa, White Marble'', which recounts Pucci's battle against Congolese President

Denis Sassou Nguesso Denis Sassou Nguesso (born 23 November 1943) is a Congolese politician and former military officer. He became president of the Republic of the Congo in 1997. He served a previous term as president from 1979 to 1992. During his first period as p ...

over the controversial transfer of Brazza's remains from

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

to a newly constructed, multi-million dollar mausoleum in Brazzaville. The film premiered at the African Film Festival New York in 2012 and screened around the world, winning the Silver Punt Audience Award for best documentary at the 33rd

Cambridge Film Festival The Cambridge Film Festival is the third-longest-running film festival in the UK. The festival historically took place during early July, but now takes place annually during Autumn in Cambridge. It is organised by the registered charity Cambri ...

, Best Documentary at the Annecy Italian Film Festival and Best Documentary Feature at the

Berlin Independent Film Festival Berlin Independent Film Festival (BIFF) is a film festival with a special emphasis on independent films, which annually takes place in Berlin, Germany. It screens German and international films and awards them in various categories. It screens a ...

. Pucci and Ward also produced a narrative feature by Sharon Greytak that premiered in 2012, '' Archaeology of a Woman'', which stars

Sally Kirkland Sally Kirkland (born October 31, 1941) is an American film, television and stage actress and producer. A former member of Andy Warhol's The Factory and an active member in 1960s New York avant-garde theater, she has appeared in more than 250 fi ...

and

Victoria Clark Victoria Clark (born October 10, 1959) is an American actress, musical theatre singer and director. Clark has performed in numerous Broadway musicals and in other theatre, film and television works. Her soprano voice can also be heard on innume ...

and won a Golden Remi award at

WorldFest Houston The WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, founded in 1968, is an annual film festival held annually in April in Houston, Texas. Notable festival alumni include John Lee Hancock, who wrote and directed the Oscar-winning film '' The Blind ...

that year. Their next project was the documentary short ''Talk Radio Tehran'', which follows three high-spirited women who fulfill their aspirations in spite of the gender apartheid system that dominates daily life in Iran. In 2020, two books by Pucci were released. ''The World Odyssey of a Balinese Prince'' is a collection of true stories from the life of Prince Made Djelantik, from his childhood in a royal palace on the island of Bali to his adventures as a medical doctor in far-flung corners of the planet, including Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Eastern Indonesia. Dr. Djelantik's own watercolors illustrate his life in vivid detail. On March 10, Simon & Schuster published ''The Lady of Sing Sing: An American Countess, an Italian Immigrant, and Their Epic Battle for Justice in New York's Gilded Age,'' an expanded and updated edition of Pucci's earlier book about Maria Barbella.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pucci, Idanna 1945 births Pucci family Writers from Florence Italian women writers Columbia University alumni Living people 20th-century Italian writers 21st-century Italian writers Italian non-fiction writers 20th-century Italian women 21st-century Italian women Italian people of American descent