What does it mean to revisit the works of the great masters in their original splendour? It means renewing the love of cinema, reading the passion of the author between the lines, amplifying the pleasure of being a spectator in the darkness of the theatre. Without any interference.
Let’s start with some good news: there haven’t been this many restored films since before the pandemic! This year’s selection of Recovered and Restored really is a treasure trove, a festival within a festival: almost 90 films in number, with an age range of more than 100 years between the most recent, Inland Empire, and the oldest, L’Enfant des mariniers.
Renoir, Antonioni, Bergman, Bertolucci, Truffaut, Akerman, Wenders, Hitchcock, Hawks, Ozu, Lubitsch, Dulac, Bava, Lynch. We rediscover the masterpieces of famous filmmakers and get to know the less celebrated but equally exceptional works of Roemer, Manthoulis, Korda and Arnold. We retrace a century of cinematic visions through rarities and cult films (presented in the peak of their splendour), we cross genres, between births and hybridisations, we discover a plethora of gazes and themes (some surprisingly current).
Curated by Gian Luca Farinelli

Perhaps the greatest, certainly the most admired and imitated – not only was Anna Magnani unique, she was also a model of acting style and an Italian icon. After first presenting herself as a brilliant actress – thanks to the triumph of Rome, Open City – she subsequently diversified from the many incarnations of her popular Roman character to play very different roles, such as those in Jean Renoir’s The Golden Coach or the monodrama The Human Voice (an episode in Roberto Rossellini’s L’Amore), to finally arriving in Hollywood and winning an Oscar for The Rose Tattoo. Her image was somewhat eccentric, amid the glamour of the 1950s and her golden moment lasted just over ten years, but an actress such as Magnani is unimaginable today. The legacy and unattainable model of Anna Magnani continue to inspire actresses in Italy and beyond.
Curated by Emiliano Morreale

Known for his ability to encode his vision in light, movement, and later in colour, the Tbilisi-born Armenian Rouben Mamoulian had one of the most consistent bodies of work in American cinema. Rightly celebrated for his invaluable contribution to Hollywood’s transition to sound, he both unchained the camera and used dialogue like a work of musical accompaniment. His mobile camera was envied and imitated, and his style is instantly recognisable for its sophistication, humour and erotic undertone. Mamoulian was equally efficient in more sombre types of cinema, serving as a pioneering figure in both gangster and horror genres. This career retrospective showcases Mamoulian’s work from his only silent film, to the early sound period, to his final musical, in colour and CinemaScope. Aside from a new digital restoration of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, everything else will be screened in 35mm.
Curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht

Over the course of a career that began at the time of the birth of neorealism and lasted more than 60 years, Suso Cecchi d’Amico worked on the screenplays of more than 120 films (mainly, but not exclusively, Italian) directed by both newcomers and established directors. Her aim was never to impose her own ideas, but to understand and support the projects and poetics of the authors with whom she worked. On the other hand, like any artist, she clearly possessed her own voice and personality, which this section proposes to trace through films that are very different in tone, genre and language. It is certainly a partial but undoubtedly fascinating selection, presenting significant works chosen from a rich and heterogeneous filmography that few other screenwriters can boast.
Curated by Masolino, Silvia e Caterina d’Amico

Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thieves, 1948) di Vittorio De Sica • Processo alla città (The City Stands Trial, 1952) di Luigi Zampa • Siamo donne (We, the Women, episodio Il cane da grembo, 1953) di Luchino Visconti • I vinti (The Vanquished, episodio inglese, 1953) di Michelangelo Antonioni • Peccato che sia una canaglia (Too Bad She’s Bad, 1954) di Alessandro Blasetti • Nella città l’inferno (Behind closed shutters, 1959) di Renato Castellani • La contessa azzurra (1960) di Claudio Gora • Il lavoro (episodio di Boccaccio 70’, 1962) di Luchino Visconti • Infanzia, vocazione e prime esperienze di Giacomo Casanova Veneziano (Giacomo Casanova: Childhood and Adolescence, 1969) di Luigi Comencini • Speriamo che sia femmina (Let’s Hope It’s a Girl, 1986) di Mario Monicelli

Between 1930 and 1939, when Alexander Korda teamed him with Emeric Pressburger for The Spy in Black, Michael Powell had returned to a wintry England from his apprenticeship with Rex Ingram in the south of France and became part of the British production renaissance. Often dismissed as “quota quickies”, made cheaply to meet the new British film legislation, these were an invaluable school for the rising generation of directors who would blossom in the 1940s. Powell used to joke that his reputation couldn’t survive any more of his first twenty films being found. But with his reputation now secure, these reveal the origins of his irreverent humour, eye for topical issues, and growing skill with actors.
Curated by James Bell in collaboration with Thelma Schoonmaker and Ian Christie

After celebrating 100 years of the 9.5mm format in the last year’s programme, we continue this year with another anniversary. 100 years ago, Eastman Kodak introduced the 16mm format as a less expensive alternative to 35mm film. The areas in which the 16mm format was and is used are very diverse. For this reason, we decided to join forces with the independent film institution Cinémathèque16 from Paris and jointly present a selection from its eclectic collection of vintage prints, which covers many aspects of this format: tinted silent films, early advertisments, scopitones, home-movie versions of famous horror features, trailers of lost silent films and artistic gems in fiction and nonfiction filmmaking. The second chapter of this year’s programme is dedicated to experimental filmmaking from Québec and the whole of Canada. The selection offers, among other delights, the opportunity to (re)discover the experimental works of filmmakers such as Joyce Wieland and Etienne O’Leary, who are represented each with an individual programme.
Curated by Karl Wratschko in collaboration with Cinémathèque16 and André Habib