Dear Cinephiles,

We hope Il Cinema Ritrovato is already marked on your calendar! If not, make sure to save the dates: June 21–29, when the world’s premiere festival dedicated to cinematic masterpieces, timeless classics, and hidden gems returns. In other words—pure cinema.
In our first newsletter of 2025, we are thrilled to share some of the extraordinary films and discoveries curated by a distinguished team of international experts. More exciting announcements are on the horizon! We will soon unveil additional programme details, including the strands Recovered and Restored, Documents and Documentaries, Cinemalibero, 1905 and Il Cinema Ritrovato Kids and Young, as well as the full lineup of films, special guests, and masterclasses. Spanning five continents and 130 years of cinema history, this year’s selection promises a wealth of treasures.
For nine magical days, films will be screened across seven theatres and two open-air venues—that beacon of collective filmgoing joy, Piazza Maggiore, and the intimate, steamy and carbon-lit Piazzetta Pasolini. Meanwhile, our underground gem, Cinema Modernissimo, remains Italy’s most beloved and best attended year-round cinema. Rest assured, we’ve kept your seats warm for another spectacular edition, where cinematic wonders and long-lost masterpieces will return to the big screen after decades of quiet slumber. The pianos are tuned, the lenses polished, the reels inspected, and the illuminating notes prepared. All we need now is you. So, come and immerse yourself in the magic of Il Cinema Ritrovato 2025!

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Sorrow and Passion: Pre-War Mikio Naruse

Mikio Naruse is known to the world as the fourth master of classical Japanese cinema, alongside Ozu, Mizoguchi and Kurosawa. Yet with the exception of one or two canonical titles, his pre-war films have been neglected. This programme focuses on a crucial five-year period in his career (1935-39), when he worked at the newly established P.C.L. film studio and its successor, Toho. There, he made use of the most advanced studio technology available in Japan, as well as novel styles of lighting and cinematography adapted from Hollywood, to create brilliant explorations of Japanese modernity. He engaged with metropolitan life, and developed his sustained interest in the place and role of women in Japanese society. Audiences accustomed to the sombre, resigned tone and stylistic understatement of Naruse’s postwar cinema will be startled by the passion, vitality and experimentation of his earlier work. Filled with rare gems, this programme seeks to reposition Naruse as one of his country’s most important auteurs, both pre- and post-war.
Curated by Alexander Jacoby and Johan Nordström

Photo: Nyonin aishu (A Woman’s Sorrow, 1937) by Mikio Naruse © Toho Ltd.

Norden Noir

From the vaults of Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish film archives come the original noirs of the North – the cinematic forerunners of today’s popular Nordic noir TV series. Rarely seen outside Scandinavia, this selection showcases the influence of the genre in melting the seemingly icy surface of life in some remarkable films, such as the Danish Murder Melody (Bodil Ipsen, 1944) and the Norwegian Death Is a Caress (1949). Speaking of the femme fatale, in the latter movie, the “femme” was also behind the camera, as it was directed by Edith Carlmar, whose style evoked the fatalism of the best of film noir. After the war, Scandinavian countries properly caught up with the Hollywood tradition, and low-key lighting, jarringly unbalanced compositions, and tales of desire and lust ending in disaster paved the way for the formation of Nordic noir. This programme celebrates that legacy by featuring archive 35mm prints and digital restorations.
Curated by Tora Berg, Mikael Braae, Sophie Engberg Sonne and Irene Torp Halvorsen

Photo:  I dimma dold (In the Mist, 1953) by Lars-Eric Kjellgren

Masks and Music: The Films of Willi Forst

A tribute to the once immensely popular Austrian actor-turned-director, who has faded into obscurity today. A consummate craftsman, Willi Forst was a versatile filmmaker who excelled in both dramatic and comedic genres. His films from the 1930s and 1940s, constituting the most accomplished body of work by any director active in Germany during the Nazi era, reveal a profound, almost obsessive love for music. Far from serving as mere background, music permeates every aspect of his work—shaping the plot, influencing the mise-en-scène, and driving the editing. In a Forst film, a single melody can lead to happiness, despair, or even both simultaneously. Remarkably, Forst largely avoided contamination by National Socialist ideology, preserving in his cinema the urbane and sophisticated spirit of the late Weimar Republic while cultivating a darker, more melancholic worldview uniquely his own.
Curated by Lukas Foerster

Photo: Frauen sind keine Engel (1943) by Willi Forst

One Hundred Years Ago: 1925

Once again, Il Cinema Ritrovato offers a selection of classics and rarities made or released in 1925, the year that marked the 30th anniversary of the birth of cinema. The year saw the emergence of future big-name auteurs such as Alfred Hitchcock, Jean Renoir, and Josef von Sternberg, whose 1925 debut features will all be showcased in the programme. Alongside undisputed masterpieces such as Sergei Eisenstein’s Strike or Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Master of the House, the programme will feature comparatively lesser-known gems, all with live musical accompaniment. The strand continues to highlight the work of female filmmakers in an exemplary fashion while also placing a spotlight on the pioneering Black American director, Oscar Micheaux. As always, the feature-length films in our programme are supplemented by thematically relevant short subjects and newsreel items that offer a glimpse of life “behind the screen” in 1925.
Curated by Oliver Hanley

Photo: The Pleasure Garden (1925) by Alfred Hitchcock

Great Small Gauge: Of Songs and Society

This year’s edition focuses on a genre closely associated with the 16mm format: music documentaries, including the popular subgenre of rockumentary. The breakthrough of Direct Cinema techniques and the heyday of music culture in the 1960s led to the production of films documenting musical performances and the fast-paced, hedonistic lifestyles of music stars and their entourages. As this was a time of cultural change, the majority of music documentaries about musicians, concerts, and festivals soon moved beyond music — politics and social commentary became integral elements of the genre. This selection reflects a desire to include a variety of musical genres, emphasizing their geographical, cultural, and aesthetic diversity to explore the social changes and struggles of the 1960s to the 1980s. The programme will include titles such as Festival (Murray Lerner, about the Newport Folk Festivals ), Right On! (Herbert Danska, with The Last Poets), Wattstax (Mel Stuart, with Isaac Hayes, Albert King, Carla and Rufus Thomas), and The Decline of Western Civilization (Penelope Spheeris, with Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, the Germs and X ).
Curated by Karl Wratschko

Photo: Who Is Poly Styrene? (1979) by Ted Clisby

Katharine Hepburn: Feminist, Acrobat and Lover

There were peaks and valleys during Katharine Hepburn’s career—an Oscar winner one minute, “Box Office Poison” the next. In her case, the latter was a consequence of her always striking and sometimes controversial personality. She wore trousers and exuded a feminist vibe (her mother was a Suffragette) before most people were ready for it. The New England accent sometimes grated, but she was bold and “out there” in a way few women were—exhilarating, physically nimble, androgyne and lady rolled into one. There was a reason her career spanned 67 years and boasted a still-record number of Best Actress Oscar nominations (12) and wins (4). Her career was more varied than she’s given credit for but it’s especially her screwball comedies (of which there’s a touch in all her best work) that she shines.  Unique and irreplaceable, we are able to appreciate in our own time this woman who was so ahead of hers. 
Curated by Molly Haskell

Photo:  Bringing Up Baby (1938) by Howard Hawks

Lewis Milestone: Of Wars and Men

A milestone of visual flair and virtuosity in American cinema, the career of Lewis Milestone – a Russian Jewish émigré – bridged silent cinema and the 70mm spectacles of the 1960s. Renowned for having one of the most distinctive and eclectic styles of his generation, his popular and dazzlingly original work ranged from the anti-war magnum opus All Quiet on the Western Front to the popular-front musical Hallelujah, I’m a Bum. As dense, dark, and daunting as his films could get, they were often laced with wit, camaraderie, and bravery amid mass atrocities. Yet, he barely survived the Hollywood blacklist, which forced him to drift into mediocre assignments. This programme, covering his silent films up until the blacklist, features new restorations and archive prints, aiming to recover the artistry of a man who fought many battles of humanity in the 20th Century with a sense of wisdom and poetry that can still shake us.
Curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht

Photo: Rain (1932) by Lewis Milestone

Not Only Films

Il Cinema Ritrovato – Blu-ray & DVD Awards 
The international jury will pick the best home-video releases of the year.

Book Fair
The most tempting collection of film books, DVDs, Blu-rays and posters offered inside the Renzo Renzi Library. Leave some empty room in your luggage!

FIAF Cataloguing and Documentation Commission Workshop – Summer 2025

Il Cinema Ritrovato Board 2025

Directors: Cecilia Cenciarelli, Gian Luca Farinelli, Ehsan Khoshbakht, Mariann Lewinsky

Artistic Committee: Richard Abel, Peter Bagrov, Peter Becker, Janet Bergstrom, Kevin Brownlow, Gian Piero Brunetta, Ian Christie, Lorenzo Codelli, Eric de Kuyper, Bryony Dixon, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Bernard Eisenschitz, Jean A. Gili, Alexander Horwath, Aki Kaurismäki, Dave Kehr, Martin Koerber, Hiroshi Komatsu, Miguel Marías, Nicola Mazzanti, Mark McElhatten, Olaf Möller, Alexander Payne, Chema Prado, Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Thelma Schoonmaker, Martin Scorsese, Jon Wengström, Karl Wratschko

Programming Committee: Guy Borlée, Roberto Chiesi, Anna Fiaccarini, Goffredo Fofi, Andrea Meneghelli, Paolo Mereghetti, Emiliano Morreale, Davide Pozzi, Elena Tammaccaro

Coordinator: Guy Borlée
Promoted by: Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna
Supporters: Gaumont, The Film Foundation, Pathé
With the support of: Comune di Bologna, Ministero della Cultura – Direzione generale Cinema e audiovisivo, Regione Emilia-Romagna – Assessorato alla Cultura, Creative Europa Media
Main Sponsor: Gruppo Hera

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Accomodation
Bologna Welcome will provide festivalgoers with complete information about accommodation in Bologna, as well as travelling tips. Early birds will have better opportunities and benefit from special rates. Click here to discover more.

Info and contacts
Cineteca di Bologna
Via Riva di Reno, 72 – 40122 Bologna – Italia
Tel +39 0512194814/4211
ilcinemaritrovato@cineteca.bologna.it