Film Festival - Rediscovered Cinema on Tour

Featuring historic films on revolutionary movements for national independence from around the world, and Buster Keaton’s classics with original live music accompaniment, the film festival "Il Cinema Ritrovato on Tour" takes place March 9 through 12.

University of Maryland to feature restored films from around the world in collaboration with the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

The third Maryland edition of the film festival "Il Cinema Ritrovato on Tour" (Re-discovered Cinema on Tour) takes place from March 9 through March 12, 2023 on campus at College Park (ASY 2203), and at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. It will feature historic films about revolutionary movements for national independence from around the world, and Buster Keaton’s classics with original live music accompaniment.

Screenings are scheduled on campus at the University of Maryland, College Park (ASY 2203) on Thursday, March 9 and Friday, March 10, and off campus at the National Gallery of Art on Saturday, March 11 and Sunday, March 12. Screening times vary. A full schedule is available here.

The 2023 program will open on Thursday, March 9 at 3:30pm with the screening of The Battle of Algiers (Italy, 1966). One of the most influential political films in history, The Battle of Algiers, by Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo, vividly re-creates a key year in the tumultuous Algerian struggle for independence from the occupying French in the 1950s. Day one continues with Sambizanga (Angola, 1972) by one of Africa’s first female directors, Sarah Maldoror. A revolutionary bombshell, the film’s electrifying chronicle of Angola’s awakening independence movement is a stirring hymn to those who risked everything in the fight for freedom. Based on a true story.

Day two features Manila in the Claws of Light (Philippines, 1975) by Lino Brocka, and Memories of Underdevelopment (Cuba, 1968) by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. Mixing visceral, documentary-like realism with the narrative focus of Hollywood noir and melodrama, Manila in the Claws of Light is a howl of anguish from Lino Brocka, one of the most celebrated figures in Philippine cinema. Memories of Underdevelopment is an extraordinary glimpse of life in post-revolutionary Havana. Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s intimate and densely layered film is a landmark work of Cuban cinema.

Day three will mark the shift to another venue, the recently re-opened East Building Auditorium at the National Gallery of Art. The program will start with Thamp̄ (India, 1978) by Aravindan Govindan. Thamp̄ (The Circus Tent) is a poetic, allegorical film, that gently explores the transience of human relationships and the rootlessness of the marginalized.

The festival concludes on Sunday, March 12, with the screening of three century-old masterpieces by Buster Keaton: My Wife's Relations (USA, 1922), The Blacksmith (USA, 1922), and The High Sign (USA, 1921) accompanied by live music by composer Donald Sosin. Donald Sosin is one of the foremost silent film composers in the world, with 49 years of performing at major film festivals and archives. His original scores for the three silent movies screened will be performed by Sosin and by an ensemble of student musicians from the University of Maryland’s School of Music.

"Il Cinema Ritrovato on Tour" is a collaboration between the Italian Program and the Program in Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). The event is produced in partnership with the Arts for All initiatives, the Department of French and Italian, the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, the School of Music at UMD, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Each summer, the Cineteca di Bologna (the Cinematheque of Bologna, Italy), one of the world’s most renowned centers for film restoration—home of the Charlie Chaplin and Pier Paolo Pasolini film archives—presents an eight-day film festival called “Il Cinema Ritrovato” (Re-discovered Cinema). Il Cinema Ritrovato focused on restored films, early silent cinema, and director retrospectives. Il Cinema Ritrovato has been described as “pure heaven for cinephiles.” Thanks to a collaboration with the Cineteca di Bologna, the Italian Program at UMD has been presenting events related to Il Cinema Ritrovato since Spring 2022. 

The festival is co-curated by Luka Arsenjuk (Director of the Program in Cinema and Media Studies), Valeria Federici (Italian Program), Mauro Resmini (Italian Program and the Program in Cinema and Media Studies), Guy Borlée (Coordinator of the festival for Cineteca di Bologna, Italy), Joanna Raczynska (Film Programmer at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.), and Parichay Patra (Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, India).

The program includes discussion panels following some of the screenings. 
 

All screenings are free and open to all. A registration will be required for screenings at the National Gallery of Art. Details on the festival’s website.