Italian Film Club Promotes Local Businesses and Italian Culture

Nick Cimillo ’26

Executive Features Editor

Last semester saw the first few meetings of the Italian Film Club, a new student organization that meets every other Wednesday to view and discuss Italian cinema and television from across various decades. The club was brought about by Quin McGlame ‘25 and Teddy Salamone ‘27, both of whom had taken classes taught by the professor who would be brought on as the club’s faculty advisor: Professor Joshua King of the Italian studies department. The Tripod met with McGlame, Salamone and Professor King to find out more about the club’s conception, what events and screenings it has hosted so far, and what they hope students can get out of being part of it. 

Professor King’s fascination with studying Italian culture, he believes, came about in a relatively happenstance way, as he himself isn’t of Italian heritage. After moving to Italy at age 21 to teach English, he came to appreciate  the opportunity to meet and speak with many different people while also learning a lot about himself and how American culture differs from Italian culture. Professor King pursued his interest in Italian studies starting with his B.A. from Rhode Island College all the way through to his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut, although his particular interest in Italian cinema is more recent.

When asked why he loves Italian films, Professor King said that watching them makes him feel like he’s been back to Italy. But what’s different, he continued, is that film in general is a form of artistic expression, one that leaves you feeling like a changed person and allows one to experience things that they may not have been able to otherwise.

Salamone, an economics major with a minor in Italian studies, first met Professor King during his freshman year, when he took his section of ITAL 101 – Elementary Italian I. He later took ITAL 102 – Elementary Italian II and ITAL 201 – Intermediate Italian I: Conversation and Composition alongside McGlame, a double major in history and political science. “[Professor King] was interested in film,” Salamone said, “and had watched some Italian films before, but I hadn’t seen too many Italian films prior. There were some extra credit opportunities we got—to go to Cinestudio and watch some films—and I really enjoyed them.” 

McGlame already had a long-standing interest in film and similarly enjoyed the Italian movies he watched as part of Professor King’s classes. “Professor King and I had talked about cinema a lot,” he said, “because he teaches a class that Teddy is taking now about Italian cinema (ITAL 290). I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to take that class, but I still wanted a kind of outlet for Italian cinema somehow. So Teddy and I had talked about this idea [for the club with] a couple of friends that we thought would be somewhat interested … And then we talked to Professor King about it, who was obviously thrilled that someone was finally starting an Italian club on campus.”

The Italian Film Club is Trinity’s only student organization centered around Italian culture. During their bi-weekly Wednesday meetings, the club has shown various kinds of Italian films including “Cinema Paradiso,” a 1988 coming-of-age movie about a young boy’s love and appreciation of film (which most Salamone and McGlame cited as their personal favorite film shown so far), and “Gomorra,” a crime drama released in 2008. The club is currently in the midst of airing episodes of a 2024 biographical historical drama series about Benito Mussolini: “Mussolini: Son of the Century.” Generally, McGlame has oversight over what gets shown during screenings, occasionally putting out polls for members to vote on what they should watch next.

The club also treats attendees to Italian cuisine and snacks ordered from local businesses in Hartford. “[We] try to help local businesses, and that also helps if you want to get people to show up for food,” McGlame mused. “[We’ve ordered from] Sorella, Portobello, [and] First and Last Tavern, which is just down the street.” Specific foods ordered during meetings have included pizza, penne alla vodka and cannolis.  

When asked what students can get out of coming to screenings from the Italian Film Club, Salamone said that it is the goal of the club to “spread Italian culture around more … I think, obviously, [that] the movies are good, but I think that cinema is a really cool and good way to actually get immersed into a different culture, especially [across] different time periods. There’s really no other way to do that besides traveling to Italy.” McGlame added: “In my opinion, being such a big fan of cinema and world cinema in general, I had a couple of films that I really wanted to show the team. It’s a [much] wider audience rather than just [viewing films by] myself. Because, like Professor King says, seeing a movie with people is a great experience; on a big screen, it’s just a completely different thing than watching it by yourself on your laptop. So I wanted to be able to have that experience with the team and other people that wanted to come and are interested in Italian culture.”

Salamone and McGlame hope to maintain the club’s momentum going through to the end of the semester. “We still have a list of films that we want to show,” McGlame concluded. “We’re both on the track team, [so] we usually get kids on the track team to come out, which is awesome. We’ve [also] been getting more and more students from the Italian department as well … they’ll be in good hands next year when I’m not here.” The next meeting of the Italian Film Club will take place tomorrow, April 9 at 7 p.m. in the McCook Auditorium.