Film Heritage Foundation, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Mumbai, Axis Bank and Education Partner – Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) are proud to present a first-of-its-kind Italian film festival Cinema Italian Style – Celebrating Tornatore and the Masters of Italian Cinema showcasing the best of restored Italian classics to be headlined by legendary Italian filmmaker, Giuseppe Tornatore, Oscar-winning director of Cinema Paradiso (1988), one of the most beloved films of all time.
The festival was held over three days from September 27 – 29, 2024 in Mumbai at the beautiful heritage Regal Cinema and included an incredible line-up of films and events.
Welcoming Giuseppe Tornatore on his first visit to India, the festival had included a mini Tornatore retrospective kicked off with a screening of Cinema Paradiso followed up with his film Malèna (2000) featuring the gorgeous Monica Bellucci in an unforgettable role in a moving coming-of-age film and the documentary Ennio (2021), a portrait of Ennio Morricone, considered one of the most prolific and greatest film music composers of all time, author of unforgettable soundtracks of over 70 award-winning films including The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Days of Heaven, The Mission, The Untouchables and all Giuseppe Tornatore’s films beginning from Cinema Paradiso.
The three-day festival programme was a cinephile’s feast that showcased restored films of great Italian masters including Luchino Visconti’s Senso (1954), Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960), Vittorio de Sica’s Marriage Italian Style (1964) and Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time in America (1984).
The screenings were opened to the public. Seating on first come, first served basis.
Highlights:
- FHF Lifetime Achievement Award for Cinema Projection was presented by Giuseppe Tornatore followed by the opening film Cinema Paradiso introduced by Giuseppe Tornatore
- Public event – In Conversation with Giuseppe Tornatore
- Giuseppe Tornatore Masterclass with film students
- Lecture addressing cinema students on Italian Cinema history and its cinematic language (led by IED – Istituto Europeo di Design)
- Screenings of restored films of the great Italian masters – Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini, Vittorio de Sica and Sergio Leone.
Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Filmmaker and Director of Film Heritage Foundation:
“Film Heritage Foundation is delighted to share that a legend of Italian cinema, Oscar-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore has agreed to come to Mumbai for his first visit to India in support of the foundation and the cause of film preservation. During his time in Mumbai, he will present the 4 K restoration of his film Cinema Paradiso, one of the most beautiful and universally loved films of all time, a timeless classic that has the power to move you no matter how many times you watch it. The film will open a 3-day film festival during which Mumbai audiences will have the amazing opportunity to immerse themselves in the beauty of his films, the music of Ennio Morricone and the greatest of restored Italian classics by Vittorio de Sica, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti and Sergio Leone. Watching these beautifully restored classics will remind the world that cinema is an art form that must be preserved and restored for future generations to enjoy.
We are privileged that Giuseppe Tornatore whose film Cinema Paradiso pays tribute to film projectionists has agreed to present the Film Heritage Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award for Cinema Projection at the opening of the film festival. We would like to thank the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Mumbai, Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and Axis Bank for partnering with us to make this unique celebration of Italian cinema possible.”
Guiseppe Tornatore, Renowned Filmmaker:
“I am so happy to be coming to India for the first time. I have known about the amazing work of Film Heritage Foundation in preserving and restoring India’s cinematic heritage and I am so pleased that Film Heritage Foundation is partnering with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Mumbai for “Cinema Italian Style”, a festival of Italian film heritage in Mumbai that will include some of my films. I was delighted to hear that my film “Cinema Paradiso” is known and loved in India and I am honoured that my films will be presented alongside the films of great Italian masters like Vittorio de Sica, Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini and Sergei Leone.
I have been told that Film Heritage Foundation will be presenting their second Lifetime
Achievement Award for Cinema Projection and it would be my pleasure to present the award to the winning projectionist at the opening of the festival in Mumbai.”
Francesca Amendola, Director, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Mumbai:
“If the stars of the great Italian cinema will shine under the sky of Mumbai during such exceptional 3 days’ event, it is thanks to the precious partnership with Film Heritage Foundation, which has been collaborating for years with the best cinema conservators, among which the Italian ones stand out. To seal this, a particularly significant moment will be the FHF film projectionist award, that will be delivered by Maestro Giuseppe Tornatore himself. I would also like to thank the main sponsor of the festival, Axis Bank, and the educational sponsor IED, Istituto Europeo di Design.
The 7 great Italian classic movies of this festival have all been restored by highly skilled laboratories that adopt the most advanced and innovative technologies, and I am proud to mention, amongst them, l’Immagine Ritrovata, from Bologna, that has been working also on the restoration of several Indian masterpieces that belong to the world heritage, like, just to mention one, Satyajit Ray’ s Trilogy of Apu.
What a pleasure it will be for all of us, to assist at the screenings of Mr Tornatore’s perfectly restored films, together with him, in the same hall, for, as all cinema lovers agree on, attending a wide screen projection, sharing the vision with the rest of the public, enjoying perfectly restored images and sound is a unique experience that resumes the true essence of the cinematic art.”
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