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24 July1941
Transylvania
Author
Adolfo Franzini
Format
16mm
Credits
Music by Simonluca Laitempergher | Soundtrack Il Varco by Federico Ferrone, Michele Manzolini

Adolfo Franzini from Verona and of German mother is an Italian soldier belonging to the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia (Csir). In July 1941, he left for Russia as a complementary artillery captain, taking a Siemens 16mm camera with him. The military traduction arrives in Transylvania, as we see in this film. The railway stops at Borsa, in Hungary (now Romania), before the Carpathians. The landscape is enchanting and in Franzini's sequences nothing is revealed about the fate of these smiling soldiers. Between 20 and 24 July, traditional dances are held in Borsa for the Feast of the Prophet Elijah, the patron saint of the harvest. During these festive days, work is forbidden and the local population is totally involved in rituals celebrating wheat and new engagements. The Italians watch, Franzini films in curiosity, perhaps someone will venture a dance move. For many of them, the war is the discovery of the world, some will note in their diaries the conditions of poverty and misery in which the population lives, but it is likely that no one imagines exactly what they will find in the continuation of the expedition. Shortly afterwards, perhaps as early as the morning after the dance filmed by Franzini, the soldiers will leave in self-drive vehicles, crossing the borders of the Soviet Union at the end of the month.

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