One of the highlights of the cinephile’s calendar will be the 38th edition of this archive Festival held in Bologna from June 20th until June 30th. The complete programme is now up on the Festival Web Pages. Il Ritrovato is always a feast of films and movies where one can over-indulge in a fabulous fashion. It also demands hard choices as there are eight venues all screening from morning to late evening. But the Festival is extremely popular and thousands of fans from round the world attend. So getting into see a particular title can be hard; even where there are repeat screenings these often sell out. Would-be guests can register in advance and there is a booking system for most of the programme. This is released in tranches, so the first two have appeared and mostly been snapped up. The final tranche will be next Friday, June 21st at 4 p.m. Italian time. Previous booking sessions have involved queuing and also ‘crashes’ as one goes about securing tickets. Note, read the notes on the Booking page; they advise why some titles are not in the listings and some ‘do’s and don’ts’. If you succeed there will be further waits and queues for the most popular titles, [much of the programme], to get in your seat; there are two queues, one for ticket holders and one for pass holders in case there are free seats. But once seated the large number of films and digital versions are impressive: the standard of projection good: pretty good venues, mostly with some air conditioning: and often interesting introductions. And the staff are always friendly and helpful.
Where to start?
On the opening Saturday there is a screening in the new Cinema Modernissimo, near the central Piazza Maggiore. This was an underground cinema opened in 1915. It later fell into disuse. For a couple of recent years we enjoyed screenings in the shell of the cinema; atmospheric events in basic surroundings. Now restored the venue looks really accommodating with 350 seats. This screening celebrates the year 1924, a major theme in the Festival, [part of The Time Machine section]. The programme will include Au Secours, a film by the pioneer film comedian Max Linder: Kino-Pravda No 18 from Dziga Vertov and the Factory of Facts: and Ballet Mécanique, the avant-garde film involving Man Ray. All three films will screen from 35mm prints, note though only with the original language Intertitles.
One of the major attractions at the Festival are the screenings in the Piazza Maggiore. These start around 2200. However, even if booked you need to get there earlier as large number of the city citizens come along to enjoy the event. It really is a great experience, sitting under the stars with a very large screen and an audience of thousands. The opening Saturday sees the presentation of John Ford’s magisterial western, The Searchers. If I read the programme correctly we will enjoy a 70mm print?
One of the regular pleasures at the Festival are complete runs of early serials. On the opening Sunday there will be the Prologue to Louis Feuillade’s Judex from 1916. This will continue every morning with a grand total of 381 minutes running time. This is a digital version screening from DCPs with French Intertitles and English sub-titles. This is a cracker of a serial with two rival leading female characters; Yvette Andréyor and the famous Musidora. Serials offer everything, action, drama, mystery and frequent cliff-hanging moments before the next episode. This will screen in the Sala Mastroianni, one of the two at the main Cineteca venues at the Cinema Lumière, seating 174. The Cineteca is the main complex at the Festival with registration, help desk, and a cafeteria in the Piazzetta.
Sunday evening sees one of the events that I always treasure, screenings in the Piazzetta Pier Paolo Pasolini from 35mm prints running through a 1950s carbon arc projector. These have a special visual quality as the audience sits under another star lit sky. This programme will include 14 films from the ‘Year 1904’, another important strand in the Festival. We are promised contrasting films in both black and white and in colour. There is reserved seating but people also stand about the Piazzetta.
On Monday Khak-e Sar bé Mohr (1977) is screening in Cinema Libero [part of The Space Machine section]. This strand privileges films from the oppressed peoples and nations. Several films here focus on patriarchal societies and female subjection. So this title, by a then young film-maker [Marva Nabili] just out of film school, was shot on 16mm in a village in South West Iran and treated the repressions of arranged marriages at that time. It screens in a restored digital version in the Cinema Jolly with 362 seats, which is quite large with a good rake and a fair size screen.
The same Cinema Jolly follows with Tovarich (1933), part of a programme dedicated to the films of Anatole Litvak [in the Cinephiles Heaven section]. This European film-maker finally ended up in the USA and the programme includes titles from Germany, France and Hollywood. The films range through drama, melodrama and comedy. This title is a star comedy with Charles Boyer and Claudine Colbert from a 35mm print.
In the evening the Jolly features Yoru No Kawa (1956). This was directed by Yoshimura Kozaburo, a post-war Japanese film-maker who is profiled with a series of his films. This colour film is presented in a restored digital version. Japapese film-makers are a regular feature of the Festival, and for several years have been curated by Alexander Jacoby and Johan Nordström, who provide introductions to the films.
On Tuesday morning Shanghai Express (1932) plays in the Arlecchino Cinema. The film is part of a presentation of the work of Marlene Dietrich. This profile of her career consists mainly of her famous Hollywood films but there are also early film from Germany. You can meet ‘Shanghai Lily’ in a digital version, originally crafted by her ‘Svengali’, Josef von Sternberg. The Arlecchino is the most spacious of the cinemas and very comfortable 450 seats.
In the evening there is a film by Gustaf Molander, a Swedish film-makers who worked in both the silent and sound eras. Examples of both are presented in a profile of his work. Ingmasarvet is from 1925 and continues the story set out in earlier films by Victor Sjöstrōm, adapting novels by Selma Lagerlöf. This is a digital version and the cast includes both Lars Hanson and Conrad Veidt screening in the Sala Mastroianni.
Wednesday afternoon there is Al-Leil (1992) written and directed by Mohammad Malas. He is a Syrian director whose Ahlam el-madina (1984) was one of the finest screenings in 2023. This later film focuses on a man trying to find the ‘lost memory’ of his father, a peasant involved in the Great Revolt of 1936 in a Palestine then occupied by the British. This film is screening in 35mm in the Cinema Jolly.
Wednesday evening there are two documentaries in the Sala Scorsese, the second of the two screens in the Cinema Lumière, seating 144. Mayday (1970) is a record of a mass demonstration against the trial of members of the Black Panthers, ending at Yale University. The Bus (1965) charts the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in the Summer of 1963. There will be an introduction to these important events in the USA. The first short will be digital whilst the second longer film will be from 35mm.
Divorzio All-Italiana (1961) is part of a profile of the Italian film-maker Pietro Germi. Germi’s career spanned neo-realism, gangster films, melodramas and comedies; this film is a fine example of the last. It is screening in a digital form and will include an introduction. Most of the Germi screening are in the Cinema Europa. This was in the early1990s the original Cinema Lumière. It is some way from the Cineteca and a friend thought that the sight lines for subtitles were not great; I liked it in my early Festivals and it has 168 seats.
The above is Thursday afternoon as, a little later, is Der Letze Mann, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. This is part of a celebration of the year 1924. This masterpiece is screening from a 35mm print and there will be some extras, short films from the same year; all in the Sala Mastroianni.
On Friday morning the Cinema Modernissimo hosts a film by Sergej Paradžanov, Tini Zabutykh Predkiv (1966). This is from the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and is a work that mixes drama and fantasy, with poetry song and dance. Paradžanov is a very distinctive director and his films offers a mastery of colour images. It is screening from a digital version.
In the afternoon the Sala Scorsese features Die Martinsklause (1951). This is part of a programme of Heimat Films from Germany. This is a slightly off-beat example set in the late C19th. It is in 35mm but likely will be a German version without English sub-titles. Possibly a challenge?
The final Saturday has Carlos Saura’s Los Golfos (1960) in the Arlecchino Cinema. The film features bullfighting subverted by young delinquents and was subject to censorship in a repressive Spain. Saura’s first film features non-professionals and has a neo-realist feel. This is in a restored digital version.
Later, in the Sala Mastroianni, there is one of several screenings of early and classic Laurel and Hardy films. Here fans will see The Second Hundred Years and The Battle of the Century, both from 1927. The first features the duo causing chaos with changes of costume whilst the second has a famous and extended custard pie gag.
The last Sunday has a programme of repeats from during the week; and the online programme gives information on this in the ‘Full Film Cards’ for each individual title. And there are some screenings, mainly for the city citizens, in the days before the Festival actually commences. All this information is in the complete programme, as are details such as running times, sub-titling and descriptions/commentaries on individual movies. And there is a page where one can check out the Festival sections.
The Silent screenings all enjoy live accompanying music. The Festival enjoys a team of internationally celebrated musicians, well versed in the skills of supporting film on screen. Most of the cinemas rely on the Italian Cinemeccanica for 35mm with Barco Digital projectors. The standards screening are high and the technical staff face a daunting task with various formats, numerous reels of film, and often well worn archive prints; they are for most part unseen in their work..
There are all sorts of other events including interviews or conversations with filmmakers; two exciting examples are the veteran Costa-Gavras and the younger and relative new talent, Alice Rohrwacher. Most of these will be in the Auditorium Damslab at the Cineteca, it seats 2018. There is a Fair at the Cineteca with a wide selection of books, video discs and memorabilia. There is also the registration desk and, helpfully, at the rear of the Fair a table where staff will help guests with ticket changes, cancelations and [possibly] additions.
This is really a set of snap shots of a large and daunting week of films and movies. You cannot, of course, see them all. But even a selection stands out from the usual round of cinema going. This year’s Festival is a week earlier than usual. And the likely temperatures are around the high 20%. The city has a number of fine arcades so it is easy to stay out of the sun. Rain is possbile on the Sunday and the Thursday; if it pours in the evening the screenings from the Piazza Maggiore are moved to the Modernissimo and the Jolly, meaning the programe titles there are displaced.There are innumerable coffee bars: some fine restaurant, including vegetarian and vegan on menus: Bologna’s cuisine is renowned: apart from movies there are some fine museums and galleries, and likely special exhibitions worth seeing: and there are a number of parks where one can relax and just enjoy fresh air. Going should be a really good if challenging week.
The Case for Global Film 