Breaking the silence: Cinematic Journeys Between Italy, Germany, and Switzerland

Gertrud Pinkus (b. 1944) transitioned to filmmaking in 1971 after previously working in theatre as a trained set designer. She developed her filmmaking skills with the Scope-Film group in Frankfurt. She gained wider recognition with her first feature-length film, Il Valore della donna è il suo silenzio (1980), a multi-layered portrait of the realities of Italian immigrants in Frankfurt. The film was an immediate success, winning several awards, including the German Film Award and the Zurich Film Award. Its innovative approach uniquely blended elements of documentary and fiction.

As Gertrud Pinkus explains in interviews, Il Valore della donna è il suo silenzio explores the theme of silence. Originally conceived as a documentary, the film had to be restructured because the Italian women living in Frankfurt were too afraid to appear publicly on camera. Pinkus therefore decided to make a feature film using amateur actors. As described in the film flyer, these actors portray the life story of Maria M.

“To ensure that Maria M. remains unrecognised, other Italian emigrants portrayed her story in the film. Maria Tucci-Lagamba, herself an emigrant from the south, a mother of two and a saleswoman in a supermarket in Frankfurt/M., took on the role of ‘Maria’. Her brother played her husband ‘Giacomo’, and other Italian friends and relatives appear in the film.”

Flyer, Filmcooperative Zürich, 1980

The following pictures show Gertrud Pinkus with Maria Tucci-Lagamba and her brother, who played her husband, Giacomo in the film, as well as a scene shot in Landis & Gyr, a factory in Frankfurt.

In a 1981 interview with the socialist newspaper Vorwärts, Gertrud Pinkus discusses her subversive approach to filmmaking. She explains how she uses personal experiences as a starting point and how she aims to use film as a medium to express social criticism and expose injustices.

“My aim was to show the life of a neighbour of mine from Sicily who was admitted to a psychiatric hospital because she had swallowed pills and drunk alcohol without anyone noticing. This woman put me under such psychological pressure... and I didn't want to suppress it—I had to process it.. I was a housewife as well, and there is a lot of me in this film. My aim was to scream out something together with these women, something that is simply unbearable, a scandal – and now the film is finished...”

Gertrud Pinkus, Vorwärts, 1981

The first of the following pictures shows Maria counting. She has started a new job in a factory and now has her own salary account. In primary school, which she attended for four years, she learned to count using dried beans, peas, and lentils. Now, she verifies her bank statements using the same method. She soon realizes that she has been shortchanged by 43.60 marks. After much back and forth, the bank admits its mistake.

“By deliberately allowing the dialogue and the images to diverge, I made the ambiguity of the Italian language, especially that of southern Italy, more visible to the audience.”

Gertrud Pinkus, video interview, 2023

In the interview, Gertrud Pinkus talks about the creation and the making of the film. The desire to break the silence was also central to the screening process. She explains the conscious decision to show the film outside traditional cinema venues, ensuring it reached the people it was about.

“The entire film is structured to encourage discussion afterwards.”

Gertrud Pinkus, video interview, 2023

As shown in the flyer at the beginning, the Swiss premiere of Il valore della donna è il suo silenzio did not take place in a cinema, but at Casa d'Italia in Zurich. a meeting place for Italian immigrants. Pinkus also recalls a screening in collaboration with the Gruppo Femminile Soletta in Zuchwil (Solothurn), a feminist collective founded by Italian immigrants. In Germany, a another screening took place at the Mercedes factory near Stuttgart, where many Italian workers were employed.

The photograph captures Gertrud Pinkus in conversation with the Italian ambassador from Bonn (left) and the Italian consul from Stuttgart (right) during the Mercedes factory screening.

The film has an open ending, designed to spark discussion. A key element of this approach was the post-screening discussion groups. Pinkus even filmed some of these conversations, such as those in Zuchwil, and edited them into a short film. This short film was intended to be shown during the closing credits if a live discussion did not take place. It premiered at the Solothurn Film Festival in 1981 but is now considered lost. However, the German subtitles for the short film – the document Gertrud Pinkus refers to in the video interview – are archived at the Cinémathèque suisse.

Discussion sessions also took place in Zurich, as seen in these pictures from Volkshaus Zurich. Wishes and messages collected for the protagonist, Maria, are also visible.

Gertrud Pinkus wanted to show the film and open it up for discussion not only to the diaspora communities in Germany and Switzerland but also to those who had returned to Italy and those who had never left. With the support of the Goethe Institute and Pro Helvetia, she embarked on a five-week journey from Genova to Bologna and Naples, continuing to Sicily, traveling through towns and villages in Italy with her Cinema Mobile – which included a screen, a projector, and speakers.

The photograph shows a man in Aliano (Basilicata) or Melicuccà (Calabria) advertising an upcoming screening.

In a travel report, Gertrud reflects on these screenings, describing audience reactions and her encounters with people in the various Italian towns and villages.

“In the village, people repeatedly asked whether the screening was really free of charge and whether the whole population was invited, and of course whether they would see so and so in the film. There was a lot of excitement. That day, we ate lunch about fifteen times and drank just as many coffees with liqueur. [...] At half past seven, the hall was opened. At eight o'clock, about 500 people are in the auditorium, and 300 are gathered in front of the school. Aliano currently has a population of about 1600. Except for the small children, the schoolgirls and the very old people, almost the entire village came to the screening. We have to hold on to our projector with all our strength, it is impossible to think of starting the film. Don Pierino climbs up the ladder and tries to organise things. A crowd of twelve-year-old boys have taken the best seats. I try to persuade them to give them up in favour of their mothers. In vain. I suggest that older women standing should chase the louts off the seats so that they can sit themselves. They wave me away. ‘But if the boys want to sit!’ Gritting my teeth, I decide not to interfere in foreign customs any more. Don Pierino suggests moving outside with the film. It's quite cool. We agree on a second showing for the youth at 10 p.m.”

Gertrud Pinkus, Medium, 1982

The film opens with Maria recounting stories of her home village in Lucania, a region in southern Italy, accompanied by documentary footage from the nearby village of Aliano. After completing the film, Gertrud Pinkus returned to Aliano to screen it. The following picture captures the director putting up posters for the screening – bringing the story full circle, from its origins to its screening in the village.

Il Valore della donna è il suo silenzio is available for streaming on several platforms. More information can be found at filmo.ch. For the publication Texte zum frühen feministischen Film der Schweiz, Margrit Tröhler and Fiona Berg wrote articles about Gertrud Pinkus' film. These articles can be accessed online in Repérages – Zeitschrift der Cinémathèque suisse.