Italian politicians vote on a program that could convert cultural institutions in the capital Rome, including 50 cinemas, in shopping centers and supermarkets. According to regional protests, director Martin Scorsese and many other international stars are now committed to their rescue.
More than 40 cinemas have already had to close in the eternal city in recent years. These include legendary places and premieres play sites of large Italian films. This is documented by the blog “Blocal” in an impressive picture.
So that this exodus does not become even more dramatic, the international film community wants to prevent the “irrevocable loss of iconic locations” in Rome. They also support the protests of the “Cinema Americana” in the Trastevere district. US director Martin Scorsese takes up a fire letter from the architect Renzo Piano, which was published in the daily newspaper “La Republica”.
Scorsese writes in his grade: “Renzo Piano reflected on the current situation in Rome. It makes it clear that the attempt to convert future spaces of a cultural renaissance into shopping malls or supermarkets is completely unacceptable. Such a conversion would mean an irrevocable loss: a deep sacrilege not only for the rich history of the city, but also for the cultural heritage of future generations. ”
Politicians had become necessary after an investor group was able to win a bankruptcy auction of Roman real estate. You also acquired nine cinemas for around 50 million euros. Some of the cinemas are still in operation, while others have been closed for some time.
Martin Scorsese is in the best company
The supporters include some of the biggest names of Hollywood alongside Scorsese, also Francis Ford Coppola, Spike Lee, Wes Anderson, Mark Ruffalo or Willem Dafoe. The director of Venice Alberto Barbera’s Film Festival has also spoken out against the vote on the conversion.
As Roma legend Francesco Totti remembers his childhood in the Porta Metronia district when “he dreamed not only from football, but also from the cinema”. For him, the cinemas were “places of memories, magic and daydreams. The memory of the moments we spent in the cinema as young people and children is a tradition and a value that we have to pass on to the new generations ” – says Totti -“ We need places for sport, culture, kindergartens and schools and schools Not more shopping centers. “
With a good example
How things can be done differently showed itself at the long closed “Cinema Fiamma”, which has stood empty since 2017. “A symbol of the golden age of the Italian cinema and for many Romans that still remember it,” said the operator group for reopening. The mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, welcomed the step and said he hoped that the “Fiamma” in the middle of a “very complex closure debate” could trigger a “impulse of a counter trend”.
The city would “always be on the side of the cinemas and its part will help to maintain it, to promote its survival and, if possible, to reopen it”. “Fiamma Cinema” was opened on February 4, 1960 with the Roman pre -premiere of Federico Fellini’s classic “La Dolce Vita”, which was mainly shot in the Via Veneto area.