Sunday, July 31 @ 2:00 pm / Doors open at 1:30. At the Italian Center, Carmichael (6821 Fair Oaks Blvd, 95608). Admission $10. Meet the Director, Zach Baliva, at this screening of his new documentary film: "Potentially Dangerous - When It Was A Crime To Be Italian". The film reveals the story of Italian immigrants interned and persecuted as America’s enemies during World War II.

During World War II, over 600,000 Italians were targeted nationwide with harsh restrictions. In California, 50,000 were placed under curfews and travel restrictions and their personal property seized. Some 10,000 were forced to evacuate from their homes and businesses along the California Coast. Thousands were detained and hundreds interned in military camps in other states.

It was not for anything they had done but only who they were and where they came from. Their Language and culture were repressed during the war years. The collective trauma of these events changed Italian American culture and led many to hide their language, culture, and customs.

In the film you will meet Connie Foran, who watched the FBI raid her home and take her father away and Velio Bronzini, whose mother had a nervous breakdown after the government closed their family business. The film assembles expert historians who put these events in context.

According to the film Director, the film was made to highlight the sacrifice and experience of Italian Americans and raise awareness about this painful episode in history. When Baliva obtained his dual citizenship in Italy, he realized he had little connection to his ancestral story as a third generation Italian American and he wondered why. Then he discovered the reason – Italians in America were persecuted during World War II.

Potentially dangerous examines the lasting effects of that loss of their cultural heritage and the reason they need to connect back to this history to understand its impact on today’s Italian Americans.

The Public is invited. Refreshments included. The film DVD will be available for sale at the presentation. Funding to pay for the film to be broadcast on PBS is still needed. Contact Zach to book a showing or become a sponsor at [email protected]