Oscar-Winning Director Giuseppe Tornatore To visit India In Collab With Film Heritage Foundation

The cultural extravaganza will be conducted from September 27 – 29, 2024 in Mumbai at Regal Cinema, Mumbai.

With a long-term vision to celebrate the legends of Italian cinema and exhibit restored Italian classics from over the past decades, the festival will be headlined by legendary Italian filmmaker and Oscar-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore for its inaugural edition

The 68-year-old cinema legend will present the FHF Lifetime Achievement Award for Cinema Projection and will not only helm an interactive masterclass for budding film students but also deliver an exclusive sit-down fireside chat for film aficionados and the Indian film fraternity.

To celebrate Giuseppe Tornatore’s inaugural visit to India, the festival will include a mini Tornatore retrospective and will include screenings of his cult classics such as Cinema Paradiso (1988), Malèna (2000) and (2021).

The three-day festival programme is a cinephile’s feast that will showcase restored films of great Italian masters including Luchino Visconti’s Senso (1954), Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960), Vittorio de Sica’s Marriage Italian Style (1964) and Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time in America (1984).

Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Filmmaker and Director, Film Heritage Foundation states, “Film Heritage Foundation is delighted to share that a legend of Italian cinema, Oscar-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore has agreed to come to Mumbai for his first visit to India in support of the foundation and the cause of film preservation. During his time in Mumbai, he will present the 4 K restoration of his film Cinema Paradiso, one of the most beautiful and universally loved films of all time, a timeless classic that has the power to move you no matter how many times you watch it. The film will open a 3-day film festival during which Mumbai audiences will have the amazing opportunity to immerse themselves in the beauty of his films, the music of Ennio Morricone and the greatest of restored Italian classics by Vittorio de Sica, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti and Sergio Leone. Watching these beautifully restored classics will remind the world that cinema is an art form that must be preserved and restored for future generations to enjoy. We are privileged that Giuseppe Tornatore whose film Cinema Paradiso pays tribute to film projectionists has agreed to present the Film Heritage Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award for Cinema Projection at the opening of the film festival. We would like to thank the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Mumbai, Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and Axis Bank for partnering with us to make this unique celebration of Italian cinema possible.”

Guiseppe Tornatore states, “I am so happy to be coming to India for the first time. I have known about the amazing work of Film Heritage Foundation in preserving and restoring India’s cinematic heritage and I am so pleased that Film Heritage Foundation is partnering with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Mumbai for “Cinema Italian Style”, a festival of Italian film heritage in Mumbai that will include some of my films. I was delighted to hear that my film “Cinema Paradiso” is known and loved in India and I am honoured that my films will be presented alongside the films of great Italian masters like Vittorio de Sica, Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini and Sergei Leone. I have been told that the Film Heritage Foundation will be presenting their second Lifetime Achievement Award for Cinema Projection and it would be my pleasure to present the award to the winning projectionist at the opening of the festival in Mumbai.”

Francesca Amendola, Director, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Mumbai states, “If the stars of the great Italian cinema will shine under the sky of Mumbai during such exceptional 3 days’ event, it is thanks to the precious partnership with Film Heritage Foundation, which has been collaborating for years with the best cinema conservators, among which the Italian ones stand out. To seal this, a particularly significant moment will be the FHF film projectionist award, which will be delivered by Maestro Giuseppe Tornatore himself. I would also like to thank the main sponsor of the festival, Axis Bank, and the educational sponsor IED, Istituto Europeo di Design. The 7 great Italian classic movies of this festival have all been restored by highly skilled laboratories that adopt the most advanced and innovative technologies, and I am proud to mention, amongst them, l’Immagine Ritrovata, from Bologna, that has been working also on the restoration of several Indian masterpieces that belong to the world heritage, like, just to mention one, Satyajit Ray’ s Trilogy of Apu. What a pleasure it will be for all of us, to assist at the screenings of Mr Tornatore’s perfectly restored films, together with him, in the same hall, for, as all cinema lovers agree on, attending a wide screen projection, sharing the vision with the rest of the public, enjoying perfectly restored images and sound is a unique experience that resumes the true essence of the cinematic art.”

The screenings are open to the general public on a first come, first served basis.

Film Screenings

1. Cinema Paradiso (1988) – Giuseppe Tornatore’s Oscar-winning moving coming-of-age film – a love letter to cinema that is considered one of the greatest films of all time.

2. Ennio (2021) – Giuseppe Tornatore’s documentary celebrating the life and legacy of Ennio Morricone, considered one of the most prolific and greatest film music composers of all time.

3. Malèna (2000) – Giuseppe Tornatore’s acclaimed film starring the gorgeous Monica Bellucci in an unforgettable role

4. Marriage Italian Style (1964) – Vittorio de Sica’s acclaimed romantic comedy starring the glamorous Sophia Loren and screen idol Marcello Mastroianni

5. Senso (1954) – a lush Technicolor tragic romance that is an extraordinary evocation of reckless emotions and deranged lust, from one of cinema’s great sensualists – Luchino Visconti.

6. La Dolce Vita (1960) – Federico Fellini’s biggest hit offering a damning critique of the culture of stardom provides a prescient glimpse of just how gossip- and fame-obsessed our society would become.

7. Once Upon a Time in America (1984) – Sergio Leone's visually stunning, stylistically bold, and emotionally haunting epic crime drama filled with great performances from the likes of Robert De Niro and James Woods.