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In 1968, thanks to a small group of amateur photographers, the "Sambenedettese" Photomovieclub was constituted. At once it became member of FIAF (Italian Photographic Association Federation), which was linked to UNESCO. The aim of the Club was to gather photo and movie amateurs in order to develop their artistic and technical abilities. Then the first exhibitions (the first Marchigiana Photograph Exhibition and the First Photo Contest on the Piceno Province) and the first activities started and in the meanwhile free courses of photography were held for schoolchildren of local secondary schools. A lot of reduced gauge films supplied by foreign Embassies were shown from time to time and appreciated by many people. The Embassies wanted to promote tourism to their countries. They were 8mm and super 8mm films and the Club took part to many cinematographic shows and arranged national movie contests.In particular the Club collaborated with the St Marcel Trophy promoters in Ascoli Piceno, a national reduced gauge film show, thanks to which some films were given a prize and shown at the Ventidio Basso Theatre. Some 8mm and super 8mm films were produced in the years 1970-75 and the actors, the directors, the photographers of the films were the members of the Club, its friends, and its relatives.Here are the titles of some
films:" 432/1 ", "The Russian Roulette", "New Dawn on the Piceno"," The Seashore Madonna Celebration, 1978", "This mad, mad 1972 Carnival", "1974 Sambenedettese Carnival", etc. In the meanwhile the Club held a lot of international photo contests under the sponsorship of the FIAF such as the third International Contest, which counted the extraordinary presence of 30 countries with 1,300 pictures by 310 authors. This exhibition became two-yearly in 1986 and took the name of INTERPHOTO 1986. It showed a lot of international photos and many famous dealers, technicians and models were present there. On the contrary the 1988 INTERPHOTO Exhibition was entirely dedicated to China, and it had the collaboration of the Chinese Embassy in Italy. So it was possible to see the most attractive and striking pictures of Chinese photographers in San Benedetto del Tronto. The following years exhibitions were dedicated to Bangladesh, Austria, the USA, Poland,
Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and other countries. The Club carries on also many cultural activities. For example, in 1980 the famous David Hamilton, the photographer and singer Berry Ryan and the well-known Cristina Ghergo showed their most beautiful pictures in San Benedetto del Tronto, by the good offices of the Sambenettese Photomovie Club. At present the National Photographic Art Show has reached its
17th edition (it is a monthly exhibition of well-known Italian photographers, one author for each month) and takes place at
S.E.F.-Photographhic Space for Exhibitions near the Municipal Library of
San Benedetto del Tronto .
Noteworthy is also the Exhibition on the Sambenedettese Soccer Team, which has been shown several times and it is still shown from time to time. It is an Exhibition of old photos of Sambenedettese Soccer Team Champions. It has been frequently enriched with new pictures for thirty years, together with the historical photos of the town and represents the "memory" of San Benedetto.This collection contains about 1,000 photos and has been used to prepare various photographic volumes. All these pictures may be considered iconic notes of our past, relevant moments of our town history.We must also remember the periodical Exhibitions when a lot of members show their best pictures, and the national Photo Contest on a free subject and on "The Man and the
Sea"
In 2005 the twelfth editionon -INTERNATIONAL DIGITALON-LINE- has been effected through internet
with a participation of 821 works of 215 Authoes coming from 15
Countries.
In 2006
with a participation of 507 works of 134 Authoes coming from 14 Countries
. However the real "engine" of the Club are the regular meetings held regularly on Friday Evenings at the Club centre.During these meetings, the many members show their slides, their black-white and colour photos, talk about techniques, ask for information, make comparisons, arrange photographic trips, and so on. In short the weekly meetings are a real "gymnasium" of photography and ideas. The goal is to promote love for photography. In the past the Club has helped some other organizations to make photographic researches, has held free courses for beginners,
etc. For many years the Club has been a member of the ANAF also
(Photographic Art National Association) member of P.S.A. - Photograohic
Association
of America - and has been awarded many times,
so that it has got some
local and national managements.
During the 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994, 2002 and 2004 national ANAF meetings, the Club was awarded
with a CERTIFICATE OF MERIT as one of the most well-organized and efficient clubs all over Italy
. The Club was asked to arrange the 10th National ANAF Congress for the year 1994. The Congress was held successfully and hundreds and hundreds of people interested in photography took part to the meeting, which lasted three days. At present the Club has also frequent cultural exchanges with Italian and foreign Clubs with whom it shares experiences and analyses about the wide world of photography
(recently Saudi Arabia and Vietnam ).
A lot of publications have seen protagonists the partners of the fotocineclub, on catalogs, photographic
magazines, books, brochure, manuals of photo, calendars, etc.
In the last monographs published by the
F.I.A.F. in Turin, there ae well five authors on the volume
" Landscape " and four on the volume "Photo and reality "
Here is what a journalist wrote about the Club:
"A group which is well integrated and organized within the field of Italian and Marchigiana amateur photography; a united group who show a very good organizing ability and is eager for discussing about photography and its history, as a kind of artistic expression, a means to understand, read, interpreter our society and some of its angle-shots; a club who has carried on prestigious cultural initiatives, photography being its main subject. It can count over
forty years of activity, which has been in the service of the historical knowledge through a careful work of research.
All that has set the Club as one of the most active all over Italy.
The Sambenedettese Club - affiliated to FIAF (Photographic Art Italian Federation) and to ANAF (Photographic Art National Association) - has been managed by its President Mr
Gianfranco Marzetti
for many years, who has been helped in his work by the very active collaboration of some members:
Giampiero Mascitti (Vice President), Pierpaolo Giorgini (Secretary), Felice Ciotti (Vice Secretary), Prometeo
Camiscioli, Giuseppe Proli,Luigi Giudici, Stefano Taffoni,
Maurizio Gabrielli, Quinto Oddi and
Mario Pignotti.
Fausto Raschiatore
(IL FOTOAMATORE
-F.I.A.F. - january 1999)
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