Occhi di donna

For Africa by Daniela Giuffrida

She travels with a Moleskine, a tin of coloured crayons and a single pair of comfortable shoes. She doesn't like Chatwin and existential travel books but prefers authors native to the places she visits or those like Elias Canetti, who can picture towns such as Marrakesch in an objective way. Sveva Sagramola first visited Africa in 1997 and was tremendously moved by this experience. The black continent entered into her heart and has never since left. Every day for the past seven years, she has conducted the eco-friendly TV programme Geo&Geo on Rai 3. During this time she has produced 25 reports on Africa, all dealing with sustainable development, human emergencies, environmental balance and imbalance, tourism as a resource but also as a threat to the future of the continent. In 1999 she was asked by Amref (a humanitarian association promoting health and hygiene in Africa) to commit herself to witnessing for this work. These television programmes became not only of natural but of human content: the degradation of the slums; the drama of street-children; the daily problems of rural communities; the scarcity of water; the advance of desert land; the ever increasing pressure of modern life with new life styles and needs, resulting in new poverty but also new opportunities for development.

Sveva Sagramola has the special gift of delicacy in dealing with people respecting them as individuals and avoiding their transformation into stereotypes. She reduces the invasive effect of the cine-camera to a minimum and also succeeded in this during her TV programmes. The viewer is aware of her discretion when entering a Masai hut, her slight embarrassment at taking part in all women's party before a wedding, her respect in holding a new-born baby in her arms, the giving of the baby's mother of a tiny box containing a razor-blade, a sterile gauze and disinfectant, vital for a “do-it-yourself” child birth as practised by many African women, with great risk of infection and death.

As can well be understood, Sveva gradually became more and more linked to these people she filmed. She abandoned her role as an objective witness and began to understand that anthropocentric ecology is of the utmost importance in this world. We may quote her as saying: «Human beings cannot live well if the other living creatures do not live well. And the reverse is also true. But I feel the environment of men still remains more important than that of nature». 

These words are reflected in the way her TV productions come across, being discreet but determined. If Africa has not hit the headlines, it can be helped by giving information constantly on television, interviewing humanitarian workers and their assistants. At the same time, documentaries highlighting Africa's natural beauty can show how man and nature co-exist. New ways of affronting tourism can be explained, to further its role as a resource and lessen what damage it may cause. Economic and cultural factors may, in part, be irreversible but can and must be protected from destructive consumerism and replaced by awareness among tourists.

Obviously Sveva Sagramola takes a special interest in African women. Among the many difficulties she seeks to point out are the following: Two men injured or mutilated according to local traditions; women carrying water pots for many miles with young children on their backs, young girls who build huts from cattle dung; women forced to enter into marriages arranged by their families, women who are denied schooling and education; but also women who, despite everything, learn to hold their heads high. This last-mentioned point is put forward by Sveva with not a little pride and is helping to create a truer and more convincing picture of the world around us.

The proposal was made to dedicate this festival concerning the environment to filming material realized in Africa by a person such as Sveva, committed to spreading information about this topic. It may serve as a stimulus for reflection in two ways. Firstly, it signifies removing material for television from a classification in terms of “products”. The change of context in TV programmes and cinema productions implies attracting a new audience. Such an audience leaves the domestic domain to find new interests in the world outside. Secondly, it challenges the producers of such material to reflect on the pathway they are following and its impact on others and on their own profession.

Several questions arise from a consideration of Seva Sagranola's life and work. How is a topic chosen? How is the information collected and presented? Her approach is not just concerned with giving information. It follows the pathway of an enquiry on the field, made up of selections, relationships with people, listening, understanding and storing up the reality of the place in her memory.

Sveva Sagramola

She was born in Rome in 1964. She started her career with Giovanni Minoli's journalistic program on RAI television called “Mixer”; she wrote the scripts, conducted in video and/or with her voice, edited and directed reports, surveys and stories. Since 1998, she has been conducting “Geo&Geo”, which is a daily TV program on RAI 3 about important themes regarding nature and the environment. In 7 years, she has published 25 reportages on the problems of sustainable help and the great humanitarian and environmental emergencies, from different areas of Africa and the rest of the world. She has been a witness for Amref since 1999. In her journeys through Africa, she has described the degradation of the slums, the drama of street-children and the daily problems of rural communities. She has told about the projects Amref is carrying out regarding school education, water and health.