IL POLENTONE A PONT CANAVESE
Giovanni Vitrotti / Italy / 1909 / 7 min / Black and white
Production Cines. Restored by BFI National Archive from a tinted positive print
On the occasion of a Carnival of the early twentieth century, in the village of Pont Canavese a party is organized in the square with the traditional convivial and opulent spirit typical of the days preceding Lent. A gargantuan dish made with 500 eggs and 115 kg of flour is prepared in the streets of the town where, climbing trees, the rejoicing villagers watch as the cooks fill a huge cauldron, later masterfully overturned with a winch to reveal its steaming contents. In the end, there's a generous portion for everyone.
Giovanni Vitrotti
Giovanni Battista Vitrotti (1882 - 1966), known as Vitrutìn, was a photographer and director from Turin, one of the pioneers of Italian cinematography. At the beginning of his long career he filmed "live" current events, especially sports. He subsequently made reports and travelogues, traveling to Russia, Turkey, Tunisia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and going as far as Persia, where he portrayed the Tartar and Cossack populations. During the First World War, he documented life in the trenches and the battles of the Isonzo and on the Trentino front. With the crisis of Italian cinema in the 1920s, he moved to Berlin, where he collaborated with important film houses and directors including Dieterle, Trenker, and Dupont.