''Italianamerican'' is a 1974 American documentary film directed by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

and featuring his parents

Catherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

and

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

, who reflect on their experiences as the children of Italian immigrants to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Synopsis

Over dinner at their New York apartment on Elizabeth Street, Martin engages his parents in a lively and candid discussion about their lives, discussing such topics as their upbringing, family, religion, marriage, their Italian ancestors, post-war life in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, and the hardships of poor Sicilian immigrants striving to succeed in America. Catherine also demonstrates her technique for cooking

meatball A meatball is ground meat rolled into a ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, egg (food), eggs, butter, and seasoning. Meatballs are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce. There are ...

s, a recipe later printed in the end credits of the film.

Reception

''Italianamerican'' was received positively after its screening at the 1974

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, it is ...

, with the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'' reporting the film "completely charmed" the "usually blase festival audience."

Home video

On May 26, 2020,

the Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

released ''Scorsese Shorts'', a compilation of five early short films directed by Scorsese: ''Italianamerican'', '' American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince'', ', '' What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?'' and ''

It's Not Just You, Murray! ''It's Not Just You, Murray!'' (1964) is a short film directed by Martin Scorsese. The film focuses on Murray, a middle-aged mobster who looks back at his beginnings. The film premiered at the New York Film Festival in 1966. ''It's Not Just You, M ...

References

External links

* {{Martin Scorsese 1974 films American documentary films 1974 documentary films Documentary films about Italian-American culture Documentary films about Sicily Short films directed by Martin Scorsese Films about New York City Films about immigration to the United States 1970s English-language films 1970s American films

Synopsis

Reception

Home video

See also

References

External links