10 Facts About Giorgio Mangiamele

Giorgio Mangiamele's films included Il Contratto, The Spag, Ninety Nine Per Cent and Clay.

Giorgio Mangiamele enjoyed drawing and painting as a child but bought his first still camera after he decided that 'painting was too slow' and that cameras were able to catch 'that fraction of a second'.

Giorgio Mangiamele learned the essentials of filmmaking by shooting 16mm surveillance footage of demonstrations and riots intended for screening to magistrates in court.

In 1952 Giorgio Mangiamele boarded the Castel Felice to migrate to Australia.

The story tells of the challenges faced by four Italian migrants after their arrival to Australia, and was based on the stories that Giorgio Mangiamele had heard from the Melbourne Italian community around him.

Giorgio Mangiamele mortgaged his home and studio to make the film, and eight of its actors and technicians contributed to the budget by agreeing to accept payment when the film moved into profit.

Giorgio Mangiamele continued to earn a living as a portrait and event photographer, and worked as a cinecameraman for Tim Burstall, shooting 13 episodes of the Sebastian the Fox TV series, and documentaries on the artworks of Gil Jamieson and Matcham Skipper.

Giorgio Mangiamele travelled to New Guinea in June 1979 and until 1982 made five documentaries on contract to the Papua New Guinea Office of Information.

Giorgio Mangiamele always planned to make more films and he worked as a stills photographer and screenwriter, doing occasional lectures for film courses until he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2000.

Giorgio Mangiamele is the grandfather of Australian record producer Gabriel Gleeson.