Up until the Second World War, Mr. Rodrigo Levoni of Reggio Emilia ran a laboratory that specialized in creating and distributing glass slides as an educational tool for schools. Levoni amassed a small but valuable collection of films, which the Cineteca di Bologna recently acquired with the help of his son. Roughly twenty films made between 1909 and 1915, the collection includes a few rare Italian silent films (in particular works directed by Mario Caserini and Luigi Maggi), while a substantial part of it consists of French documentaries of distant locations and exotic fauna with splendid pochoir coloring. With this program we are presenting the first part of the Levoni collection restoration project, focusing on films that truly let the public experience the pleasure of travel and discovery. From Malaysia to the edges of the Thames, from the Egyptian mongoose to the birds of the Scottish coasts, the splendor of reality is wrapped in an aura of magic.
The films were restored digitally at the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in May 2011, using original nitrate prints, which in many instances preserved the original coloring.

Andrea Meneghelli