# Paul Tana

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Italian-Canadian film director and screenwriter

**Paul Tana** (born in [Ancona](/source/Ancona), January 8, 1947) is an Italian-Canadian film director and screenwriter.[1] He is most noted for his 1992 film *[The Saracen Woman](/source/The_Saracen_Woman) (La Sarrasine)*, which received ten [Genie Award](/source/Genie_Award) nominations at the [13th Genie Awards](/source/13th_Genie_Awards) in 1992 including a nomination for Tana in the [Best Original Screenplay](/source/Canadian_Screen_Award_for_Best_Screenplay) category.[2]

Born in [Ancona](/source/Ancona), [Marche](/source/Marche), Italy, Tana emigrated to Canada with his family in childhood.[3] He studied literature at the [Université du Québec à Montréal](/source/Universit%C3%A9_du_Qu%C3%A9bec_%C3%A0_Montr%C3%A9al) before joining the Association Coopérative des Productions Audio-Visuelles,[4] for whom he made a number of short films before releasing his debut feature film, *Day by Day (Les grands enfants)*, in 1980.

His 1985 documentary film *[Caffè Italia, Montréal](/source/Caff%C3%A8_Italia%2C_Montr%C3%A9al)* won the [Prix L.-E.-Ouimet-Molson](/source/Prix_Luc-Perreault) from the Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma.[5] He followed up with the narrative feature films *La Sarrasine* in 1992,[6] and *[Mr. Aiello](/source/Mr._Aiello) (La Déroute)* in 1998.[7] This trilogy was made possible thanks to the close collaboration and friendship with historian and screenwriter Bruno Ramirez. with whom he wrote the three films just mentioned.

Since *Mr. Aiello*, Tana has concentrated primarily on documentary films, most notably the *Ricordato di noi* project to recover lost footage of Montreal's Italian community newsmagazine television series *Teledomenica*.[8]

"Ricordati di noi" (souviens toi de nous, edited by the director, who is also a friend and pupil Giovanni Princigalli)[9] is part of a trilogy of short documentaries, also on Italian emigration, consisting of: *Souviens-toi de nous* in 2008, *Marguerita* in 2015 and *Le figuier* in 2018.

In addition to Giovanni Princigalli, he formed a partnership with Roberto Zorfini, another Italian director who had moved to Montreal, producing in 2019 two works with them together with the Italian Cultural Institute in Montreal.[10]

His latest documentary *Fellini premières fois* tells the story of how Federico Fellini was seen and discovered by Quebec filmmakers and film professionals.

## Filmography

- *Day by Day (Les grands enfants)* - 1980

- *[Caffè Italia, Montréal](/source/Caff%C3%A8_Italia%2C_Montr%C3%A9al)* - 1985

- *Marchand de jouets* - 1988

- *[The Saracen Woman](/source/The_Saracen_Woman) (La Sarrasine)* - 1992

- *[Mr. Aiello](/source/Mr._Aiello) (La Déroute)* - 1998

- *Parole d’artistes* - 2003

- *Souviens-toi de nous* - 2008

- *Marguerita* - 2015

- *Le figuier* - 2018

- *Fellini premières fois* - 2020

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Paul De Léan, "Montreal director Tana rolls the dice with latest effort, La Sarrasine". *[Montreal Gazette](/source/Montreal_Gazette)*, February 18, 1992.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** H. J. Kirchhoff, "French-Canadian films steal Genie show: Cronenberg's Naked Lunch leads the pack with 11 nominations". *[The Globe and Mail](/source/The_Globe_and_Mail)*, October 14, 1992.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Janis L. Pallister, *The Cinema of Québec: Masters in Their Own House*. [Fairleigh Dickinson University Press](/source/Fairleigh_Dickinson_University_Press), 1995. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780838635629](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780838635629). p. 419.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Fuad Alnirabie and Michael Vesia, ["Paul Tana and the Italian immigrant experience in Canada"](https://offscreen.com/view/tana). *Offscreen*, Volume 5, Issue 1 / January 2001.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Bruce Bailey, "Film made in Montreal takes prize". *[Montreal Gazette](/source/Montreal_Gazette)*, January 29, 1986.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-clashes_6-0)** "La Sarrasine shows that cultural clashes are not something new". *[Montreal Gazette](/source/Montreal_Gazette)*, February 16, 1992.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** "Sweet 16: The 16th Rendez-vous de Cinema Quebecois embraces the province's multicultural character for the first time". *[Montreal Gazette](/source/Montreal_Gazette)*, February 20, 1998.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Carole Gagliardi, "Teledomenica's memories". *[Montreal Gazette](/source/Montreal_Gazette)*, July 3, 2005.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Giovanni Princigalli Bari e Montreal e ritorno, di nuovo a casa con il "maestro Paul Tana"

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** [3 Portraits of italomontrealesi of yesterday and today, Paul Tana, Gianni and Roberto Princigalli Zorfini show with film images a new page of “Caffè Italia” at the Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma 2019](https://iicmontreal.esteri.it/en/gli%20eventi/calendario/3-ritratti-d-italomontrealesi-di%200-2/)

## External links

- [Paul Tana](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0848936/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat National United States Artists National Gallery of Canada Other IdRef

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Paul Tana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Tana) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Tana?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.