"The greatest travelers have not gone beyond the limits of their own world; they have trodden the paths of their own souls." -Carlo Levi
about
“The narrative plumbs complex emotions and the lifelong attempt to cope with grief and mourning through meticulous description of emotions, and an educated and sophisticated use of language.” -Rome Prisma Awards
It is not possible to calculate the true human cost of war because estimates can never include the psychological or physiological costs to survivors or consider other long-term events such as inter-generational trauma. Dinner with Dante, completed in 2023, is a somber tale that reveals one woman’s struggle to come to terms with World War II trauma through the weekly monologues she has in her mind with the statue of Dante in the Piazza di Santa Croce in Florence, Italy. The script conveys a sense of repetitiveness which symbolizes the narrowness of the protagonist’s world and the fact that the monologues occurred week after week, month after month, year after year until they flowed like water, and her entire life passed before her in this way.
Although the protagonist is fictional, the inspiration for the story came from the author’s own more limited conversations with the statue which she then combined with fragments of stories she’d heard about the early post WWII years in Florence.
Dinner with Dante marks the author’s screenplay debut. It will be filmed in Italian and onsite in Florence, Italy, in 2024.
"The narrative plumbs complex emotions and the lifelong attempt to cope with grief and mourning through a meticulous description of emotions, and an educated and sophisticated use of language." -Rome Prisma Awards
"The greatest travelers have not gone beyond the limits of their own world; they have trodden the paths of their own souls." -Carlo Levi
"Dinner with Dante...is a story of survival, of love, and of the people broken by the horrors of war." -Florence Film Awards
Dinner with Dante.
Witness the story of a lifetime through a WWII widow's conversations with a statue of Dante in Florence!
01.
Funding Inquiries
In the Fall of 2023, we will be launching a crowdfunding campaign which we hope will allow us to turn Dinner with Dante into a short film in 2024. Please feel free to write to us for updates on our progress or to learn how you can help us achieve our goal.
Also, please note that any future proceeds from the film will be donated in whole or in part to the Opera di Santa Croce (Florence, Italy) along with the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation / Cassino War Cemetery (UK, Italy), with the donation not to be less than 75% combined and after all applicable taxes are paid.
In the Fall of 2023, we will be launching a fundraising campaign for the making of the film and so please check back often for updates on our progress. Or feel free to join our mailing list so you can stay in touch with our journey.
In the event the completed film should turn a profit, please note that a portion of all proceeds will be donated to the Opera di Santa Croce as well as the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation / Cassino War Cemetery.
02.
Author | Writer
Katherine is a researcher, writer, and musician, who is passionate about art, music, and the creative process. Her projects may be divided into two areas: those that relate to the analytical study of paintings and those that relate to sound and music. Over the years she has collaborated with pioneers in both the sciences and the arts as a way of understanding the artistic process at a much deeper level. She has also hosted a popular series at an award-winning literary magazine and published articles in a variety of journals, technical magazines, and books. She is a long-time advocate for human rights, animal and environmental welfare and the protection and preservation of cultural heritage.
Dinner with Dante was inspired in part by the writer’s own conversations with the statue of Dante and by the stories she’d heard about Florence in the early post WWII years. It is her hope that the film will change someone’s life for the better; perhaps by making them feel less isolated or by giving them hope that comfort can sometimes arrive in the least expected places.
The screenplay marks her debut on the film festival circuit.
03.
WWII Memorial Fund
In 1922, Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana wrote: “Only the dead have seen the end of war.” However, if we view the end of war in the broadest of terms, it is the living, the ones whose hearts still beat long after the last bombs dropped, that have truly seen the end of war. These are the living casualties, the ones who’ve had to step forward, out of the darkness and into the light to survive; while at the same time, coexist with the memory of those they lost and who made the ultimate sacrifice.
In Dinner with Dante, we witness how war impacted a young woman’s life for the rest of her life. In essence, we find that although the world around her seemed to have returned to normal, she is anything but normal and as such, is unable to move forward due to a past trauma that she hasn’t fully processed. In her case, the monument of Dante becomes both a memorial to her loss and a necessary outlet for her pain; a pain she seems to share with no one else except him.
Although the story and this website have no formal connection to the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation, the author would like to raise awareness about the important work they do while also drawing attention to their extensive database of memorials, graves, and cemeteries throughout Europe. Or, if you would like to donate specifically to the Cassino War Cemetery in Cassino, Italy – which is an Italian WWII cemetery – please click on the Read More icon below.
03.
Basillica di Santa Croce
The Opera di Santa Croce plays a vital role in preserving and maintaining the many rich and complex layers of history that are represented in the vast artistic, cultural, civil, and religious heritage of the basilica along with its extraordinary chapels, serene inner courtyards, and ancient affiliated buildings.
The Enrico Pazzi monument of Dante Alighieri, which was completed in 1865, and stands today to the left of the basilica, is seen here, in this image, more to the right. As the reader will note, the image of the piazza shown here appears very different from how it appears today. This is because the piazza is shown as it appeared just after the great flood of 1966 and before the monument of Dante was moved. The deluge of water that flowed from the Arno River on November 4th, killed at least 101 people and is responsible for damaging or destroying millions of priceless artworks and rare books; leaving some art restoration scholars to say that the flood of 66’ caused more damage to cultural heritage objects in the city of Florence than both World Wars combined. It was the worst flood the city of Florence had experienced since 1557; and in some ways it has yet to recover from the full scope of the damage.
If you would like to learn more about the Basillica di Santa Croce or learn more about the Opera di Santa Croce and their important work relating to the ongoing historical preservation of this landmark site, please go to their website directly by clicking on the Read More icon below.
Image credit: Torrini Fotogiornalismo Firenze. Used with Permission.
"Unlike many other short film stories, Dinner with Dante brings an incredible amount of emotion and texture in such short terms." (GGIFF Jury, Nice, France)
New York International Film
Awards (Manhattan, US)
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