The history of the birth of an icon, the Borsalino hat. From the factory where it was conceived in a small Italian town, to the glamorous world of Hollywood.
In collaboration with APAPAJA, LES FILMS D’ICI 2, ARTE FRANCE and with ISTITUTO LUCE CINECITTÀ, RAI CINEMA
Starring: Robert Redford, Piero Tosi, Massimo Pieroni, Jean-Claude Carrière, Deborah Nadoolman Landis, Eddie Muller, Marilyn Vance, Alberto Barbera, Dante Spinotti
Film genre: creative documentary - Film director: Enrica Viola - Duration: 78 min. - Release date in Italy: 13th April, Alessandria
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“Dear Vittorio, you may remember me…, my name is Robert Redford”,
wrote the actor in a letter to a Borsalino family member in which he
wished for himself the same hat that Marcello Mastroianni was
wearing in Fellini's 8½. This letter epitomizes the history of the
Borsalino, a hat that became an iconic garment all over the world
but was produced with love and passion in Alessandria, a small town
in Northern Italy.
The film narrative is told by means of a commentary, partly in
voice-over and partly spoken by a shadow – a hint to the imaginary
world of movies associated with the hat. While depicting the destiny
of a family company, the film leads us through the creation and
consolidation of a brand that owes so much to the cinema.
From the interviews with direct and indirect witnesses the picture
of two different worlds emerges: the small provincial town with its
entrepreneurs, its workers and local historians, and on the other
hand the movie star system with its celebrities and luminaries
(Robert Redford, Jean Claude Carrière, Piero Tosi, Deborah Nadoolman
Landis). These two worlds merge into one dialogue, whose trait
d'union is in fact the Borsalino.
The hat owes its name to Giuseppe Borsalino, who in 1857, right after
having obtained the title of “Qualified Master Hatmaker” in Paris,
founded the first fulling plant in Alessandria together with his
brother Lazzaro. Production rose fast, from 35 hats a day to 2000 at
the end of the century. Giuseppe had two great intuitions:
industrial mass production and the opening of new markets. He
himself made many long journeys to promote
his new hat, from Europe to Latin America, from the United States to
New Zealand. Thanks to an efficient salesmen network, by the end of
the Nineteenth century the reputation of the hat's high quality was
established. Teresio Borsalino took over the company at his
father’s death in 1900; still the road to success was paved with
obstacles. His cousin Giovanni Battista, who felt betrayed after
being pushed out of the family business, opened a rival hat company
in Alessandria – “G.B. Borsalino fu Lazzaro & C.”. The two companies
engaged in a commercial battle fought with manifestos and industrial
films, a battle that endured until the Antica casa madre bought the
Nuova Borsalino in 1938. In the first two decades of the
Twentieth century Borsalino’s fame grew in every continent, boosted
by ad campaigns aimed at consolidating its
traditional middle-class
clientele, as well as reaching the expanding cultural and movie
industries. From that moment on, the company looked at new ways of
brand promotion, amongst which modern industrial movies of the
highest quality.
The new course of Borsalino coincided with the birth of Hollywood's
star system, together with the explosion of mob films with their
fascinating gangster characters. The likes of Al
Capone, Lucky Luciano and John Dillinger wore Borsalinos, and the
movie industry looked at them for inspiration. It was through the
film noir genre that the Borsalino entered into mainstream culture,
becoming a synonym for “hat”. Gangsters, cops and private eyes all
wore a fedora, a wide-brim hat that cast a dark and mysterious
shadow on the actor's face. The Borsalino rapidly spread
across all genres, appearing in adventure films, romantic comedies
or musicals – it defined roles, professions, style and class. The
hat became an object with unique gesture's capacity. It could
trigger passions, tears or laughter. More than that: it was a
purveyor of symbols that were becoming essential in the cinema
industry. In 1939, at the outburst of World War II, Nino Usuelli followed his
granduncle Teresio at the helm of the company: it was the worst time
ever for Borsalino, which had to go through the hardships of war,
the German occupation, the bombings of 1944 and foreign markets
closure. But the real decline would come after the war, and mostly
during the 60’s, as the cultural revolution and the onset of
individualism began to replace a patriarchal and conservative
society. With the economic boom and the subsequent automobile mass
consumption, the hat loses its role as a daily use garment, and
sales sink in few years.
The company is sold in 1979, and for Alessandria this means the downfall of generations of hatmakers. Cinema too experiences a big change in both its aesthetics and values, yet, disregarding the hat’s fate, it doesn't cast it off. Indeed, cinema will build the myth of Borsalino as we now know it.
August 2020
Screened worldwide, premiered at the 33° Torino Film Festival, broadcasted on Rai Cinema, Sky Arte, ARTE France, and many other European channels and presented in festivals from Brazil to Portugal, from Japan to Australia, “Borsalino City”, the creative documentary by the Italian director Enrica Viola, lands on your home screens in a new unreleased English version available on Vimeo on-demand!
Follow this link: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/borsalinocity
Melbourne, ACMI – 25th February → 11th March 2016
Barcelona, Moritz Feed Dog Festival – 11th, 12th March 2016
Alessandria, Premiere Teatro Alessandrino – 13th April 2016 at 19:00
Alessandria, Cinema Kristalli – 14th → 21th April 2016
Bologna, Cinema Lumière – 14th April 2016 at 18:00
Napoli, Cinema Modernissimo – 15th April 2016 at 20:30
Genova, Cinema Club Amici del Cinema – 18th April 2016 at 21:00
Torino, Cinema Centrale – 19th April 2016 at 20:30
Milano, Cinema Mexico – 20th April 2016 at 19:30
Roma, Cinema Adriano – 21th April 2016 at 20:30
Venezia, Cinema Giorgione – 22th April 2016 at 21:00
Firenze, Cinema Odeon – 28th April 2016 at 21:00
in order of appearance
Robert Redford
Vittorio Vaccarino
Paolo Vaccarino
Elena Vitelli
Massimo Arlotta
Maria Vaccarino
Jacopo Gardella
Giancarlo Subbrero
Marie-Laure Gutton
Piero Tosi
Massimo Pieroni
Ugo Boccassi
Giovanna Raisini Usuelli
Jean-Claude Carrière
Deborah Nadoolman Landis
Eddie Muller
Marilyn Vance
Alberto Barbera
Dante Spinotti
Mariella Vaccarino
voices of Borsalino’s workers
Gianni Coscia
Ombretta Zaglio
Giorgio Boccassi
Donata Boggio Sola
Ferruccio Reposi
Silvia Ferro
Bruna Buonadonna
Graziella Bertazzello
Alessio Sabetta
Pozzoli Ernesto
Bruna Cassol
Bruno Aldo
narrator voice
Dario Penne
mime actor
Guido Ruffa
written by
Enrica Viola
Paola Rota
Erica Liffredo
narrator voice written by
Paola Rota
editing
Enrico Giovannone
director of photography
Luciano Federici
m
usic by
Giorgio Li Calzi
produced by
Enrica Viola
in
collaboration with
Virginie Guibbaud
Simone Bachini
directed by
Enrica Viola
graphic and animation
Nicolas Lichtle
cameramen
Katell Djian
sound design
ZERO DB
Vito Martinelli
Paolo Armao
post-production supervisor
Paolo Favaro
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