Ready for summer cinema? In Bologna 480 films in 9 days. And there is also the Modernissimo
Between Crescentone, Arena Puccini, Piazzetta Pasolini and the Modernissimo cinema, there are 480 films on the programme, including timeless classics and rarities. And Bologna dreams of becoming the "world capital of cinema"
BOLOGNA – It’s time again in Bologna for the long summer season of cinema enthusiasts to begin, with screenings in Piazza Maggiore and, this year, also at the Nuovo Modernissimo. It too has been restored, like the films that the Cineteca always places at the center of ‘Cinema Ritrovato’, now in its 38th edition. The so-called “cinephile’s paradise” actually opens with two inaugurations, in the presence of world-famous directors. The first will be June 21 on the Crescentone with Darren Aronofsky, who will present ‘Amadeus’ by Milos Forman. What is considered the actual inauguration, however, will be on June 22nd in the presence of Wim Wenders, who will also present John Ford’s ‘Sentieri Savage’ in Piazza Maggiore, while the following day he will talk about the his ‘Paris, Texas’. As promised on the occasion of the inauguration of the Modernissimo, Wenders will stay in Bologna for several days. Among other appointments, the director will hold a public meeting at the Mast on June 24th and will present his ‘Buena Vista Social Club’ at the Arena Puccini on June 25th.
BROWSE HERE IS THE COMPLETE PROGRAM
The rich program of ‘Cinema Ritrovato’ was presented this morning in the Cineteca by the director Gianluca Farinelli, together with the Municipality’s delegate for Culture, Elena Di Gioia, and the regional councilor Mauro Felicori. This year the festival features 480 films divided into 15 sections, screened in eight theaters and three outdoor locations, with evenings in Piazza Maggiore, Arena Puccini and Piazzetta Pasolini . All in nine days, from 22nd to 30th June. An edition also made up of many retrospectives, among which the one dedicated to the Divine, Marlene Dietrich, stands out. And then Pietro Germi, 50 years after his death, Gustaf Molander, who launched Ingrid Bergman, Anatole Litvak and the actress Delphine Seyrig, a feminist icon.
Women’s cinema is given great space within the ‘Cinema Ritrovato’, with films by Assia Djebar, Marva Nabili and Sarah Maldoror. As mentioned, there were many international guests: from Damien Chazelle to Alexander Payne, from Marco Bellocchio to Sergio Castellitto, from Costa-Gavras to Nicolas Seydoux, from Alice Rohrwacher to Stephanie Rothman, up to the Syrian directors Ossama Mohammed and Mohammad Malas. The exhibition will be preceded by screenings scheduled at the Modernissimo, from 18 to 21 June, including the first films that the people of Bologna saw in 1904 and the documentary on Dietrich. The evenings in Piazza Maggiore always open on June 18 with Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘North by Northwest’ in 70mm, while on the 20th ‘My Cousin’ will be screened, the only surviving film starring Enrico Caruso, which will be accompanied live by the ensemble of the Teatro Comunale di Modena.
To stay on the musical theme, worth mentioning is the premiere of the new restoration of ‘The Wind’ by Victor Sjostrom, accompanied by the orchestra of the Martini conservatory of Bologna directed by Timothy Bock, who will return to the stage on July 6th to lead this time the orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna along the notes written by Nino Rota for ‘Amarcord’, which will be screened simultaneously in the square. There is also a wide selection of silent films, including those by Laurel and Hardy, and Japanese films including those by Akira Kurosawa and Kozaburo Yoshimura. Finally, the screen of the Modernissimo will give light to the return of a monumental work: the ‘Napoleon’, on whose restoration the French academy has worked for fifteen years. Of the total duration of seven hours, only the first part will be screened (which still lasts three hours and 47 minutes).
They will be “nine extraordinary days – comments Farinelli – to find out what cinema is, what it was and also what it will be, because there will also be a contemporary director, Juho Kuosmanen, who will present a silent film made today”. The festival is therefore “an extraordinary opportunity to discover or revisit masterpieces, rediscover silent films with surprising musical accompaniments – continues Farinelli –the ‘Cinema Ritrovato’ is a unique reality in the worldand this is why the great cinephiles from the world are about to arrive in Bologna, and many Bolognese have even taken holidays to follow this festival, where there is truly all cinema: the little unknown film and the one that changed history , there is classicism and experimentation, there is the most particular arthouse film and the most popular film that has ever been made”.
BOLOGNA DREAMS OF BECOMING “THE WORLD CAPITAL OF CINEMA”< /strong>
Felicori is satisfied, claiming the Region’s entry into the Cineteca Foundation. “We must create a large regional system to make a leap in quality – says the councilor – we cannot do with what we have more. Everyone in this region wants to be the capital, we need to put these energies together. We can become the capital world of cinema, but it is a huge challenge. There are heavyweights and therefore to enter the ring you need to have the size. I hope that our example will be followed by others. And then, after Covid and the flood. the time will also come when we can put more resources into culture”, hopes Felicori.