Kicking off in the Uffizi Courtyard is the Apriti Cinema summer film arena, now in its 11th edition. From June 26 to Aug. 7, every evening at 9:45 p.m., cinema under the stars offers the public a film in the original language, subtitled in Italian (and in some cases also in English).
The initiative is part of theFlorentine Summer billboard of the City of Florence, is organized by the Quelli dell’Alfieri association, with programming by cinema la Compagnia - Fondazione Sistema Toscana, in collaboration and with the support of the Uffizi Galleries. Admission is free, subject to availability.
The beating heart of the programming, the titles proposed by the international festivals of the “50 Days of Cinema in Florence,” the Florence Korea Film Fest, the Latin American film festival Entre Dos Mundos and the festival focused on the enhancement of short films, Sentiero Film Factory.
Comprising the Apriti Cinema 2023 billboard are many special events, including evenings dedicated to great art, curated by the Uffizi Galleries; Zeffirelli 100, on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of the master of Italian cinema and theater; the tribute to Anna Magnani, on the 50th anniversary of her death; the live performance, not to forget the Georgofili Massacre; the documentary to rediscover the genius of Margherita Hack, in collaboration with the Museo Galileo; and the tribute to the great soprano Maria Callas, in collaboration with the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
Among the most important guests announced are internationally renowned director Alice Rohrwacher, invited by the Festival dei Popoli; Italian directors Samuele Rossi, Alessandro Capitani, Carolina Cavalli, Roberto Dassoni, and Alberto Utrera; and video artist Antonello Matarazzo.
Offering films at the Apriti Cinema arena are the international festivals Lo Schermo dell’Arte (Mondays with the Midsummer Nights mini-review), Middle East Now (Tuesdays with Summer Picks), Festival dei Popoli (Wednesdays, with a tribute to Alice Rohrwacher); FánHu? Chinese Film Festival; Florence Queer Festival; River to River Florence Indian Film Festival; N.I.C.E. festival.
The evenings dedicated to great art, in collaboration with the Uffizi Galleries, offer three Italian premiere events:
on June 29, the film production company Syntez-Integra, in association with the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and with the support of the Stella Art Foundation, presents the documentary The Ideal Museum. Renaissance Rediscovered, focusing on the history of artworks damaged in wartime more than seven decades ago and brought back to life today. The filmmakers focus on the provenance and history of the rescue and restoration of a collection of Renaissance sculptures transferred from Berlin to Moscow in 1946, an operation dubbed “Project Donatello.” In the presence of directors Elena Chernyak, Francesco Pignatelli and Boris Manner;
On July 21, Italian premiere of the film Wo ist Gott, by Sandra Gold, which follows the human stories of four men of faith: from Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Christianity, from the beginning of their stories to the present;
On July 23, as part of the Uffizi Diffusi project and in collaboration with the Municipality of Casole d’Elsa (SI), presentation of Francesco Rossi’s short film, Melancholy, in the presence of the director and Vittoria Panichi, Councillor for Culture of the Municipality of Casole d’Elsa.
Thursday evenings will be dedicated to the master of Italian cinema and theater, Franco Zeffirelli, in collaboration with the Fondazione Franco Zeffirelli Onlus, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth. Among the titles on the program are his greatest hits such as La Bisbetica Domata and Giulietta e Romeo, along with his film-operas such as Otello and La Traviata. Each film will be preceded by the short Franco Zeffirelli, by Matteo Mascotto and Matteo Cichero, produced by the Franco Zeffirelli Onlus Foundation, with directing supervision by Pippo Zeffirelli.
It will be L’Amore, by Roberto Rossellini, that will inaugurate the Sundays dedicated to Anna Magnani, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of her death, which will be followed by some of the films that best represent her artistic journey in Italy and Hollywood, such as La rosa tatuata, Pelle di serpente, and Selvaggio è il Vento. The July 2 screening will be preceded by the awards ceremony of the second edition of the “Claudio Carabba Prize,” a competition for young film critics, named after the memory of the great Florentine critic and promoted by the National Union of Italian Film Critics Tuscan Group (SNCCI), Spazio Alfieri and the regional program of education in the language of the image, Lanterne Magiche (Fondazione Sistema Toscana).
In collaboration with Museo Galileo, Samuele Rossi’s documentary, Margherita the voice of the stars, is presented in the presence of the Tuscan director. The film was made on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Margherita Hack, an internationally renowned astrophysicist and popularizer and the first woman in Italy to direct an Astronomical Observatory.
In collaboration with the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, a preview of the documentary MyCallas. by Roberto Dassoni, made by ICON APS on the centenary of Maria Callas’ birth, will be presented, featuring the testimonies and memories of those who knew her: Luciano Alberti, Michael Aspinall, Carla Maria Casanova, Franca Cella, Giovanni Gavazzeni, Raina Kabaivanska, Giovanna Lomazzi. Dacia Maraini, Ferruccio Mezzadri, Silviano Sanesi and Maria Francesca Siciliani. The film also features the poignant memory, for the first time on video, of the butler Ferruccio Mezzadri, who accompanied the artist for 20 years until the day he died. Screening in the presence of the director, musician Gian Francesco Amoroso and Giovanni Vitali, representing the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
To view the full program: https://www.cinemalacompagnia.it/evento/programma-apriti-cinema-2023/
