LMU School of Film and Television Presents Il Cinema Ritrovato: Rediscovered Film

LOS ANGELES, March 11, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For three decades, the Cineteca di Bologna, one of Europe's most renowned archives for film restoration and preservation, organizes the summer festival, Il Cinema Ritrovato (rediscovered cinema). Recently, the Cineteca di Bologna launched Il Cinema Ritrovato On Tour, which began presenting mini-festivals across Europe and recently touched down in the U.S. On March 23, 24 and 25, the tour makes a stop at Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television with Il Cinema Ritrovato: Rediscovered Film, a campus series featuring a selection of restored films highlighting Italian Cinema.

Il Cinema Ritrovato: Rediscovered Film opens with the multiple award-winning masterpiece Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion by Italian director Elio Petri. Released in 1970, the Italian crime drama centers on corrupt, authoritarian practices of the police, who place themselves above the law after Italy puts the entire population under surveillance. The film was met with critical-acclaim, winning the 1971 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and both the FIPRESCI Prize and the Grand Prize at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival. Although the film was created decades ago, the subject matter remains relevant today. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion is preceded by Henry Lehrman's seven-minute short, Kid Auto Races at Venice, shot in Venice Beach in 1914 and a landmark in cinema history – it is the first film in which Charlie Chaplin appeared in the costume of the Tramp.

The festival continues with three additional films: Marriage Italian Style (Vittoria De sica, 1964); A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone, 1964); Fellini's Roma (Federico Fellini, 1972).  Full program below.

The series was curated by Guy Borlee of Cineteca di Bologna and Dr. Richard P. Hadley, SFTV Interim Program Director/Associate Professor of Film & TV Studies.

"LMU School of Film and Television is delighted to present this wonderful selection of restored prints to our students and the community on the big screen," said School of Film and Television Dean Stephen Ujlaki. "Having access to the riches of the film past enables our students to learn from some of the world's greatest filmmakers." 

"Il Cinema Ritrovato: Rediscovered Film is a small selection of films restored by Cineteca di Bologna in its own laboratory L'Immagine Ritrovata. We are very glad to bring it to the LMU film school for the second time, and to Los Angeles, home of so many of our sweetest dreams. This program is for all of those who love La Dolce Vita and cinema on the big screen," said Guy Borlee of Cineteca di Bologna.

Il Cinema Ritrovato: Rediscovered Film
restored prints from Cineteca di Bologna
March 23-25, 2015
Free screenings; RSVP required
Mayer Theater, LMU Campus

Monday, March 23, 7:30 PM
Opening Night!
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
Elio Petri
(Italy, 1970, 112 mins)
Fearing the threat of a full-scale revolution after the 1968 revolts, Italy puts the entire population under surveillance. A police inspector, drunk with his new powers, commits a terrible crime and then leaves a series of clues, daring the police to suspect him. Great acting, memorable music (Ennio Morricone) and a unique structure make this thriller a masterpiece.

PRECEDED BY:  Kid Auto Races at Venice
Henry Lehrman
(USA, 1914, 7 mins)
A landmark in cinema history, this film is the first in which Charlie Chaplin appeared in the costume of the Tramp.

Tuesday, March 24
7:15 PM
Marriage Italian Style
Vittorio De Sica
(Italy, 1964, 102 mins)
This World War II era story of an on-off relationship between a cynical, successful businessman named Domenico (Marcello Mastroianni) and Filumena (Sophia Loren), a naive country girl turned working prostitute, chronicles the maturation of a relationship that grows terribly, and comically, wrong. 

Wednesday, March 25
12:15 PM
A Fistful of Dollars
Sergio Leone
(Italy-Spain-Germany, 1964, 100 mins)
A wandering gunfighter (Clint Eastwood) sees an opportunity to make money by exploiting a bitter feud between two families vying for control of a small Mexican border town. In Leone's re-invention of the Western, gone are the moralistic Hollywood gunslingers; instead, it's every man for himself.

7:15 PM
Roma
Federico Fellini
(Italy-France, 1972, 130 mins)
Fellini frees himself of every restraint of narrative linearity, preferring the mysterious and allusive charm of fragmentary evocation. The result is a fluid yet chaotic procession of scenes detailing Roman life from the 1920s to the 1970s. This is Fellini's love letter to Rome, his adopted city.

For more information and to RSVP, visit:
sftv.lmu.edu/programs/special/ilcinemaritrovato/    

About LMU SFTV

Movie industry moguls helped establish Loyola Marymount University's (LMU) current campus on the bluffs above west Los Angeles in the 1920s. By 1964, LMU was formally teaching film and television curriculum, and in 2001, the School of Film and Television (SFTV) was established as its own entity. Today, SFTV offers students a comprehensive education where mastering technical skills and story is equally important to educating the whole person, including the formation of character and values, meaning and purpose. SFTV offers undergraduate degrees in animation, production, screenwriting, film and television studies and recording arts; and graduate degrees in production, screenwriting and writing and producing for television. The school is one of the few film programs providing students with a completely tapeless model of production and post-production, and SFTV's animation  program is one of the few worldwide that teaches virtual cinematography. Selected alumni include John Bailey, Bob Beemer, Francie Calfo, Brian Helgeland, Francis Lawrence, Lauren Montgomery, Jack Orman, Van Partible and James Wong, among others. Get more information at sftv.lmu.edu or facebook.com/lmusftv.

For more information, contact:

Julie Murray Porter
LMU School of Film and Television
[email protected]
310-388-1697

SOURCE LMU School of Film and Television