2016 Essays

Elvira Giallanella

Veronesi, Micaela

Elvira Giallanella was a film producer and distributor. She also wrote and directed one film, Umanità (1920). Like many other women in the Italian film industry in the late 1910s, she began her career as a film distributor under her own name or possibly under the name of the company Verafilm. In 1917-1919, while at Verafilm, Giallanella also began collaborating on the production of films with the company founder, the journalist, director, stage designer, and screenwriter Aldo Molinari. First of three siblings, Giallanella was the only survivor. Her elder sister died at birth in 1887 and her other sister died of tuberculosis in 1915, leaving behind a husband and a very young daughter, Liana. These family events left a deep mark on Giallanella’s life and career.