April Film Discussion

The Film Group will reconvene on Wednesday, April 5 at 7:00pm to discuss Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso. Released in 1988, the film garnered a number of critical accolades including wins at both the Academy Awards and Golden Globes for Best Foreign Language Film, and at the Cannes Film Festival for Special Jury Grand Prix.


Cinema Paradiso is a film that celebrates cinema. Film critic Richard Gilliam believes the film "evokes the magic of motion pictures, in a style both nostalgic and poetic." It's hard not to identify with the way a film captivates us and holds up a fantastic mirror to our own lives. What makes this film even more remarkable, in light of its meta-subject matter, is its idyllic setting and the way the story gently interweaves a non-linear narrative of one boy's development into manhood, with a timeless intergenerational love story. Gilliam continues: "It takes place in a small Italian town in the years before television, where motion pictures were a social event, and the people who gathered for them knew each other by name. The ambiance is largely autobiographical, drawn from the memories of writer/director Giuseppe Tornatore, who shows great affection for his characters, even when they suffer misfortune or unhappiness."

In 2002, the film was re-edited and returned to theatrical release with an additional 50 minutes of footage picking up where the original story left off. This version is known as simply, Cinema Paradiso: The New Version.

For the purposes of our discussion, I ask that you seek out the first, original version of the film. If you enjoy this version and are curious about Salvatore and his loves, then by all means seek out The New Version as supplemental material.

I look forward to seeing you next month! Enjoy the film.