Zach Baliva's grandmother, who lived to be 102, settled in Springfield after her family immigrated from Italy. She spoke Italian fluently but "didn't pass on the language to my father," said Baliva, who was raised in Chatham and now lives in California. Baliva applied for dual citizenship to reconnect with his roots and he has worked in both Hollywood and Italy.

To recover lost history and Italian heritage, Baliva is making a documentary called Potentially Dangerous. It will be a film about the temporary internment of Italian Americans, during the first half of the 1940s, and the resulting trauma that impacted generations.