“In 1950, four bold, thirty-something young men from Bologna, Enzo Biagi, Luigi Pizzi, myself and Renato Zambonelli, got the idea to found Columbus Film. Columbus stood for America, referred to Columbia, meaning that there were international aspirations because we wanted to found cinema in Bologna. That was the perspective. In 1951 we filmed our first documentary, Le fidanzate di carta (Paper Fiancées). I filmed it in the wake of L’amorosa menzogna by Antonioni which dealt with picture stories and which I thought was beautiful. Fidanzate di carte was instead about the pin-up girls brought over by American soldiers. At a certain point even Marilyn Monroe appears. The second documentary was called Quando il Po è dolce (When the Po River is fresh). We filmed it in the Po delta/plains with the intention of making a film that would foreshadow investigations to come on the mixing of radio and film. Television had not yet arrived in Italy (it was 1952). Thus we illustrated the conditions of Africa at home, fifty kilometers from Ferrara. We had a lot of trouble with the censors, and one copy was even stolen at the Locarno Festival; lots of adventures… And on that occasion, Sergio Zavoli made his debut in film. He would later be used by Antonioni for an episode of Amore in città (Love in the city).

The third documentary was commissioned by mayor Dozza, and it’s fairly odd because it tried to imagine what would happen with motorization in Italy, which would come to pass two years later with the Fiat Seicento or Cinquecento (Sette metri d’asfalto – Seven meters of asphalt is from 1954). And the odd thing is that at a certain point the film shows a city with very few cars.I must say that during those years Bologna hadn’t even the slightest notion of the problems that now come at us from all directions.

Guida per camminare all’ombra (Guide to walking in the shade) tried to explain the reasons why this city has so many porticos: it was generally said that the porticos served as protection from sun and rain, with no further explanation given. In our opinion those reasons were insufficient. We had the municipal technical office measure the porticos, and they resulted to be 35 kilometers long. We later discovered that the real reason was an overpopulation of students that occurred around 1200. And the students must be offered housing. A modern problem… In addition, during that same period, the Paradise law had freed the serfs in the countryside, who had then all crowded into the city.

Dove Dio cerca casa (Where God searches for a home) was essentially commissioned by Cardinal Lercaro who wanted to build churches in the city outskirts, as they were currently housed in shanties. And he began to bring great architects to Bologna. Le Corbusier carried out projects as did Alvar Aalto and Kenzo Tange. Tange came to Bologna in the wake of Lercaro, while new neighborhoods were developing that began to be built by City Hall around the beginning of the Sixties”.

Renzo Renzi