Pola, Goodbye (1947)
Pola, addio [ITA]

The film chronicles the story of the Italian immigrants who migrated from Pula/Pola when the Paris Peace Treaties (1947) determined that this town would fall under the jurisdiction of Yugoslavia. Rare original footage from the site is showcased in the film, depicting people packing, crying, and leaving. They are embarking on the Toscana boat that will take them across the Adriatic Sea, to Venice, where they would be dispatched across Italy. The film provides a valuable visual source showing the conditions of refugees’ departure, including scenes of the exhumation of family members’ remains that some would like to take on board. However, the narration provides for non-objective storytelling that should be critically analysed.

This documentary film is the most well-known one about the Italians departing from Pola in 1947. It has been screened at various political and cultural events dedicated to the history of the Italian emigration from Yugoslavia. Multiple screenings have been part of the project CBA Trieste, including screenings during three public lectures held during the traveling conference Oriente/Occidente - La frontiera nel cinema e nella storia. Two were held in Slovenia – in Slovenska kinoteka in Ljubljana (“Kinematografska bitka za Jadran: filmi, meje in tržaška kriza [SLV]”, May 11, 2022), and in Kulturni dom Nova Gorica [SLV] (May 12, 2022) – while the third one was held in cinema Ariston [ITA] in Trieste (May 16, 2022). The film is also regularly shown at events organized by the interest groups of the descendants of Italian refugees, most notably the Associazione nazionale Venezia Giulia e Dalmazia - ANVGD. It is also regularly screened by various archives and political and educational institutions, often, but not necessarily, on the occasion of the Giorno del ricordo (for instance: Casa del ricordo, Rome, in 2016 [ITA], University of Insubria in 2016 [ITA], Archivio centrale dello stato in Rome in 2023 [ITA]). Screenings are also frequently organised for pupils and students with the aim of “spreading the truth” about the exodus, such as, among numerous examples, in the province of Chieti in 2009 [ITA], and in Rome in 2013.

Parts of the newsreel are included in the feature fiction film “Pola, la città dolente” (Mario Bonnard, Istria film, Scalera film, 1949), as an actuality footage that aims at demonstrating the storytelling’s truthfulness. This has contributed to the raising of this newsreel’s visibility in the public space, knowing that “Pola, la città dolente” has been available for online screening on Youtube since 2014, and that it had numerous TV and festival showings. In 2019 La Cineteca del Friuli [ITA] digitised the documentaries “Pola, addio” and “Esuli d’Istria” ("Refugees from Istria", Giulio Mauri, 1954). This was followed by a relevant media coverage, for instance by Il Piccolo [ITA].

Enrico Moretti directed several documentary films about the events in the Italian-Yugoslav borderlands in the post-World War II period, often made in collaboration with Gianni Alberto Vitrotti who did production and/or camera work. This includes documentaries and newsreels about the political situation in the region ("Giustizia per la Venezia Giulia" / "Justice for Venezia Giulia", 1946/47), the Italian departure from the areas under Yugoslav jurisdiction ("Pola, addio" [ITA], 1947, "Giuliani in Sardegna" [ITA], 1949, a.k.a. "Fertilia dei Giuliani" [ITA]), and the Plutone, Crusevizza and Jelenka sinkholes ("Campane a morto in Istria" [ITA], 1947).