Draft:The Island of Roses, Tragedy in Paradise

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The Island of Roses, Tragedy in Paradise
Directed by	Rebecca Samonà
Written by	Rebecca Samonà
Produced by	Claudia Pampinella
Starring	Erminia Licitri Oreste Lionello Stella Levi Esther Fintz Menascè Mati Levy Cohen Yotis Papatanassi Rebecca Samonà Emanuele Pacifici Aaron Franco Lea Gattegno Moshe Rahmani Albert Israel Lucia Franco Garzolini Becky Hazan Nissim Franco
Release date	2008 (2008)
Running time	57 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

The Island of Roses, Tragedy in Paradise (Italian: L'isola delle rose, la tragedia di un paradiso) is a 2008 documentary written and directed by Rebecca Samonà. Produced with support from the National Fund for the Victims of Nazism, it is the first Italian film to narrate the deportation of the Jewish community of Rhodes.

Produced with the contribution of the National Fund for the Victims of Nazism, it was the first Italian film to tell the story of the deportation of the Jews of Rhodes.

Through the director's own family history, the film tells the story of the Jewish community living in Rhodes, an Italian colony, and destroyed in Auschwitz in the summer of 1944. The documentary also recalls the resistance of the Italian military to the Germans following the Cassibile armistice with the Allies, after general Pietro Badoglio announced it on the radio on 8 September 1943 (Battle of Rhodes).

Filmed in Belgium, Italy and Greece, "L'isola delle rose, la tragedia di un paradiso" has a predominantly female narration, with testimonies, archive footage, photos and diaries of the director's family and friends, including Stella Levi's.

It is distributed internationally with the title of The Island of Roses, Tragedy in Paradise.

Historical context

In 1912, during the Italo-Turkish War, Italy took control of the Dodecanese Islands, including Rhodes, from the Ottoman Empire. Rhodes, the capital, was celebrated as the "pearl" of the new colony. With the rise of Fascism in 1922, Mussolini sought to speed up the Italianization of the island's ethnic minorities, including Greeks, Turks, and Jews. The regime propaganda promotes the image of the "island of roses", Rhodes, as a glamorous paradise, a bridge towards the Middle East and the Italian colonial dream.

With the introduction of the Italian racial laws first, WWII and the advent of the Italian Social Republic (Repubblica di Salò), life on the island turns from paradise to tragedy for thousands of Italian soldiers (Battle of Rhodes) and for the ancient Ladino speaking Sephardic Jewish community, destroyed in Auschwitz in August 1944.

Rebecca Samonà

Rebecca Samonà is a journalist, television author, and director based in Rome. A graduate in Political Science, she has worked as an interviewer for the USC Shoah Foundation and as a journalist at RAI, Italy’s national public broadcaster, where she has produced documentaries and worked on investigative programs. In the United States, she collaborated with the Primo Levi Center in New York, organizing cultural events, including the multimedia installation "Los corassones avlan".

First screenings

Italian premiere: Casa della Memoria e della Storia, Rome, November 22, 2007;

International premiere: Primo Levi Center, New York, January 27, 2008;

TV premiere: The History Channel Italy, January 27, 2008.

Screenings and Recognition

The documentary received significant attention in various international venues. It was screened at multiple festivals and institutions, including the Centro Primo Levi in New York, where a post-screening conversation was held with Erminia and Gloria Licitri. The film, in addition to recounting the history of the Jewish community of Rhodes, intertwines this narrative with the personal story of the director’s family, offering a unique perspective on the historical events. This personal approach helped to raise awareness about the fate of the Rhodes Jewish community globally.

The documentary was also screened at the Embassy of Italy in Ottawa during the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, highlighting its cultural significance and the importance of remembering the Jewish community's tragic history during the Holocaust. This event helped to further raise awareness about the film and its subject matter among a diverse audience.