Cinema Italia celebrated its fifth anniversary on April 22, bringing the best of Dino Risi to San Francisco. Once again, for one entire day, the Castro Theatre welcomed Italian cinema lovers, who watched four movies and enjoyed the Commedia all’Italiana Party at the Mezzanine.
Thanks to the collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute and Luce Cinecittà, four of Risi’s most significant movies – all featuring renowned Italian actor Vittorio Gassman in his shooting star roles – were shown. The Italian director had the ability to break up some Italian stereotypes: from the charlatan to the cheating husband, the characters of the commedia all’italiana find themselves playing funny roles, most times with tragic endings revealing depth and moral rigor behind the laughs.
After the premiere at the Museum of Modern Art a few months ago, the series in San Francisco showcased the regional premiere of the new 4K restorations of Il Sorpasso (The Easy Life) and Profumo di donna (Scent of a Woman), a new 35 mm prints of Il mattatore (Love and Larceny), and I mostri (15 from Rome – Opiate ’67).
The event became also an opportunity for a conversation with Camilla Cormanni, responsible of International Cultural Events at Luce Cinecittà. Camilla explored the status of the Italian cinema and the important role of the Institute.
Camilla, what does Luce Cinecittà represent today?
Luce Cinecittà was created by putting together the historical Istituto Luce, launched in 1924, and Cinecittà Holding SpA. The new organization is responsible for all the events related to the Italian cinema, on behalf of the Ministero per i Beni e le attività Culturali e del Turismo. On one side, we have one of the largest archives in Europe, today also UNESCO World Heritage, that runs the digitalization of photos, videos, and also documentaries and movies production. On the other hand, we promote Italian cinema worldwide, both classic and contemporary, through the support of important festivals around the globe. The role also includes a support to the production, some homages to well-known directors, actors, and actresses of our past, as well as restorations and exhibitions.
There is special connection with San Francisco. Why?
I do believe that Europeans in general and Italians in particular consider San Francisco very close to their culture and interests. People here are very curious and open to influences from other cultures and countries. We have been presenting movie festivals in San Francisco and Berkeley for 20 years now, also through the collaboration with the Pacific Film Archive and, in the past, with the San Francisco International Film Festival. Because of some changes in the direction and the PFA reorganization, for some time we did not run any activity. Then, five years ago, we started again by screening big movies from the past and receiving a great support by the public and the local media.
What’s your feeling about the local audience and its involvement?
As I already mentioned, we feel at home here. The Castro Theatre and Berkeley have an amazing audience, people that attended our events thanked us for the movie selections many times. One of my greatest memories ever regards a conversation with one of the directors of the San Francisco Film Festival: since there was some criticism around the choice of Totò at the Castro Theatre, he joked and suggested to bring a jacket for the premiere. According to him, the theatre would have been empty and cold. The day after, I told him that a thousand people showed up, keeping the place nice and warm. We were sold out, and Toto’s daughter and niece were very happy of the general outcome. I have never been so grateful to the San Francisco’s audience as I was that night.
You pick the best Italian directors, actors/actresses, and movies.
Every year, we organize a festival focused on a big name of the Italian cinema. We usually have the remake of the movie or we run a digital restoration. We have a world premiere at the MoMa in New York in December. The names are chosen according, for example, to anniversaries, nevertheless in 2016 we celebrated Dino Risi’s 100 birthday anniversary.
Luce Cinecittà is trying to promote Italian cinema worldwide. Why is that important?
Luce Cinecittà is not trying, it promotes Italian Cinema worldwide. Cinema is the most immediate and clear way to spread the local culture, and very few countries can count on a tradition similar to our cinema from the past, as well as on the energy of the contemporary productions. If you think about the last editions of the Academy Awards, Fuocoammare by Gianfranco Rosi has run as best documentary, whereas Paolo Sorrentino actually won with The Great Beauty in 2014. Big success abroad also for Perfetti Sconosciuti by Paolo Genovese, and Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot by Gabriele Mainetti. We are active with many festivals and activities across ninety countries because the Italian cinema is well appreciated everywhere.
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