The 22nd edition of Cartoons on
the Bay, the International Cross-media Animation and Children's
Television Festival organised by Italian state broadcaster RAI,
has opened in Turin with the inauguration of an exhibition of
cartoon storyboards chronicling the horrors of Italy's racial
laws 80 years after they were first promulgated in 1938.
"1938-2018 Ottant'anni dalle leggi razziali in Italia. Il
mondo del fumetto e dell'animazione ricordano l'orrore
dell'antisemitismo" presents nearly 160 works by famous
cartoonists and almost the same number again from Italian
cartoon animation schools at the New Prison Museum with the
support of all the Jewish communities in Italy.
There are storyboards showing Benito Mussolini tattooing the
star of David on the arm of a frightened child, with the Italian
flag and a Crucifix in the background, new life Senator Liliana
Segre when as a young girl she was kicked out of school for
being Jewish, and a superhero breaking free from his chains
beneath the sign "Arbeit macht frei" that hung over the gates to
Auschwitz.
"This exhibition is not just a moment of recollection,
because the dark chapter of Italy's racial laws that carried the
signature of Benito Mussolini and Vittorio Emanuele III can be
repeated: indeed, racism and antisemitism are front-page news
everywhere today," said Giulio Di Segni, vice president of the
Union of Italian Jewish communities.
"Cartoons are a modern way of reaching young people who are
often unaware of this chapter that happened only 80 years ago,
because schools often stop at the early 20th century," he added.
"They are not simple drawings, but true works of art and it
is striking that they should be on display together in such a
significant place," said Rai com president Roberto Nepote.
After Turin the exhibition will be shown in other locations
before finding a permanent home at the Pitigliani museum in
Rome.
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