The Inserra Chair in Italian and Italian American Studies at Montclair State University is pleased to invite you to the Spring 2016 Inserra Chair calendar of cultural programs and educational initiatives in Italian and Italian American Studies. The calendar includes round tables, exhibits, as well as contests and international projects for students on topics such as: Italian media in the U.S., the Reggio Emilia Approach, surtitling for opera, the UNESCO- focused journey to Italy, and the study of the Italian language inspired by Jhumpa Lahiri's most recent book. For a full list please see the calendar.

The first Inserra program is entitled Italians in America: Recent Documentaries and Photographs and will be held on Mon Feb. 8 at 6:45pm. Join documentary filmmakers John Maggio (director of the acclaimed PBS documentary The Italian Americans) and Cristian Piazza and filmmaker-photographer Michele Petruzziello for a round table discussion of issues related to past and present Italian immigration to the United States. As a country of historical emigration from which young people are currently leaving once again to find opportunities abroad, Italy constitutes a unique lab to discuss issues of mobility and relocation.

New documentaries and photographic works capture the tension between outbound and inbound flows as well as the reverberations of the past onto the present. Blending a desire for documentation and a search for a dynamic aesthetic expression, these documentaries and photographs are both personal and collective. They speak eloquently to migration in the U.S. as well as global migrations. The panel will also include the screening of excerpts from the speakers' works and a photo exhibition: Good Bye My Love by Michele Petruzziello.

For more information, see the event's webpage. RSVP is required here.