Il Cinema Ritrovato 2025 Roundup
Katharine Hepburn in Summertime (David Lean, 1955)
“Cinema also preserves us. It preserves our sanity when times are so dark and so horrible. And I suppose we owe much more to the movies than we have previously assumed.” — Ehsan Khoshbakht
My week in Bologna during this year’s edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato felt like an emotional roller coaster ride. A few hours after arriving in Bologna on June 23 (I missed the first few days), news broke about airspace closure in the UAE and across the Gulf region. I found myself stressing and wondering if we were on the brink of WWIII, but the stress slowly subsided the following day when news of a “ceasefire” was announced.
Additionally, I found myself grappling with a friend’s mental health issues, and learning about friends and people I know feeling distressed caused by borderline sexual harassment from one specific person, which eventually got addressed with that person, and we’re all counting on it not happening again. It was difficult to feel relaxed in a film festival bubble when all of this was happening around me. Needless to say, watching films felt like an even more urgent escape and a coping mechanism I needed that week.
Several roads within the city centre were blocked and dug out because of construction works for a new citywide tramway network. So walking around Bologna wasn’t as fun this year, and the temperature felt a bit hotter during the day compared to last year. There was absolutely no feelings of guilt to stay indoors.
I spent most of my time watching films in Cinema Jolly which is the better air-conditioned cinema, Arlecchino Cinema was cooler compared to last year, and the other cinemas I went to were also fine - Cinema Modernissimo and Cinema Lumiere (Sala Scorsese). As always, I avoided Europa Cinema because it has no aircon and I don’t know why the festival continues to use it instead of a couple of other better functioning cinemas that are also closer to the city centre.
I didn’t take many photos during this trip, but was happy to see graffiti or flags showing solidarity to Palestine during my walks.
I was, however, not so happy to see that even Bologna, one of the food capitals of the world couldn’t escape the ridiculous Dubai Chocolate craze.
Like last year, Il Cinema Ritrovato’s Ehsan Khoshbakht, asked attendees to share a list of their favourite films to post on his blog. He also wrote a few thoughts on why they select the films they show, and the constant need to reevaluate the history of cinema.
“This survey is not a competition but a compendium showcasing what you missed so that you can catch up later. (195 festival attendees have voted.) Your local cinematheques and festivals might consider showing these films if you can convince them that the diversity and adventurous selection is essential for keeping film culture alive. (And good luck doing that!) Those who complain that some strands were not as rewarding as they expected miss an important point: if we do not screen these films, nobody else will.
There is a sense of purpose in programming Il Cinema Ritrovato, even if it is not immediately apparent to an outsider. Everything is centered on reevaluating the history of cinema, and with that come our political and social ideas and biases. However, the framework is almost always aesthetic—a bad film about a significant subject remains a bad film. Duke Ellington once said there are two kinds of music: the good music and the other kind. In our case, we avoid the "other kind."“
This is what I sent Ehsan, and you can read all the other entries here.
Absolute favourite: Nyonin aishu [A Woman's Sorrow] (Mikio Naruse, 1937)
Major discovery: Stage Door (Gregory La Cava, 1937) + Erotikon (Gustav Machatý, 1929)
Notes: (Re)Discovery: Summertime (David Lean), after only watching it at home, happy to be able to watch it on 35mm + a favourite shared audience moment when we all laughed together at “Eat the ravioli.”
Favorite film quote (based on English subtitles): “I need more experiences and I want to reconstruct my life by myself. I want to know what is the most beautiful thing in the world. I believe that we can see something more important in ourselves this way. I’ll search for it until I find out.” — A Woman’s Sorrow (Mikio Naruse)
Sad I missed: Masquerade / Maskerade (Willi Forst, 1934) + Tomfoolery / Allotria (Willi Forst, 1936)
Hats off: For screening The Zone of Interest (Jonathan Glazer) as the closing film of the festival on a Sunday night in Piazza Maggiore.
Was hoping for: One More Day Of Hepburn like last year’s One More Day Of Dietrich that was scheduled on a Monday post Il Cinema Ritrovato as a way celebrate the end of the festival.
The following is my overall roundup of the festival, mostly in bullet point format because I have not had the headspace to write anything longer or more thoughtful.
Online Ticketing System
After a couple of years of an online booking system that crashed as soon as we were ready to book our tickets, this year it was smooth sailing because the festival moved its online booking platform to a different system, and the film schedule was even released 24hrs in advance instead of a few hours before we can book our tickets. It is still not enough time to plan properly and I hope they can share the schedule much earlier next time.
As always, RepCinema’s Il Cinema Ritrovato Scheduler, an independently run endeavour, was very helpful to figure out my daily schedule, and I will say it again, it would be great if the festival partners with them and incorporates it as an option on their website.
Social Media
Cineteca Bologna posted the following on their Twitter account on June 3,
Il Cinema Ritrovato is around the corner! The Cineteca di Bologna takes the opportunity to officially leave X. Thank you for following us all these years, continue to do so via Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and our new Letterboxd profile.
Despite its downfallen status and reputation since El*n M*sk bought and renamed it, and an algorithm that prioritises mostly right-wing verified accounts, I still think Twitter is the best form of social media in terms of posting and sharing, and still a better way for me to know what other cinephiles and film writers (also known as “Film Twitter”) are up to, and for quick replies and reactions.
Whilst I totally understand why so many people and organisations no longer want to remain on Twitter, Letterboxd isn’t an alternative, it is just something very different - mostly good to keep a diary of what one watches and to see what friends or other people you follow are watching. It isn’t a platform that feels communal in terms of sharing and/or responding in real time to what people are watching or recommending during a film festival.
Il Cinema Ritrovato on Letterboxd is now an HQ account, so in addition to the diary entries of the daily film screenings, they also publish articles and stories, which I don’t understand why since they have their own website to do so. Institiutions really need to stop relying on 3rd party apps to publish “content”. I know the argument is it will have more views, but it’s this kind of metric chasing that has basically led to the downfall of the media and publishing landscape.
I am now worried we’ll see the Letterboxd branded mic making an appearance at the festival next year, shoved in front of people’s faces to list their top 4 films and recorded to get published on social media, like I’ve been seeing at a few other festivals and film premieres. (Note: Better use of this activity in my opinion is to ask celebrities what are the last 4 films they watched - doesn’t that make more sense? It’s more in line with the spirit of celebrating the act of watching films, instead of turning it into a best of list.)
Also, people are still photographing or filming during the screenings, sharing on Instagram and Cineteca Bologna resharing on their account, hence encouraging this behaviour, and THIS. NEEDS. TO. STOP.
Strands I Watched the Most:
I didn’t see as many films as I normally would because I missed the first few days, and as always I missed even more. I mostly watched films from the following strands:
Sorrow And Passion: Pre-war Mikio Naruse
Katharine Hepburn: Feminist, Acrobat And Lover
Recovered and Restored
And a couple from:
Lewis Milestone: Of Wars And Men
Norden Noir
Top 10
My number 1 followed by the rest in alphabetical order:
A Woman’s Sorrows (Mikio Naruse, 1937, 35mm)
Adam’s Rib (George Cukor, 1949, 35mm)
Christopher Strong (Dorothy Arzner,1933)
Death is a Caress (Edith Carlmar, 1949, 35mm)
Floating Clouds (Mikio Naruse, 1955)
Holiday (George Cukor, 1938)
Of Mice and Men (Lewis Milestone, 1939, 35mm)
Stage Door (Gregory La Cava, 1937)
Summertime (David Lean, 1955, 35mm)
Wife! Be Like a Rose! (Mikio Naruse, 1935, 35mm)
Honorable mentions:
Learn from Experience - Part One + Part Two (Mikio Naruse, 1937, 35mm)
Sincerity (Mikio Naruse, 1939, 35mm)
Favourite Film Quotes/Scenes:
From Wife! Be Like a Rose: “Men like a wife who acts childish and cajoling, or jealous sometimes, or motherly and protective. But my mother can’t do it. Not that she doesn’t know. She knows but she can’t.”
From Sincerity: “This is all sad stuff from the past. It’s all over. Right?” (followed by the two girls crying alone on the wooden bench, deliberately not facing each other - devastating)
From One Hour With You: “You think you were bad? No. You were just a naughty little boy. Look at me. I'm the one that's bad. You think you're a Don Juan? Well, if you're a Don Juan, then I'm a Cleopatra. You, with your one hour. What's your one hour compared with my 25 minutes?”
From Summertime: “You are like a hungry child who is given ravioli to eat. 'No' you say, 'I want beefsteak!' My dear girl, you are hungry. Eat the ravioli.” (a memorable moment in the cinema when everyone laughed at “Eat the ravioli.”)
Adam’s Rib: The home movie titled 'The Mortgage the Merrier', a play on the title The More the Merrier, one of my favourite films that I first saw at Il Cinema Ritrovato in 2021.
Eating scenes between Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey in Adam’s Rib and Desk Set.
Favourite Fashion:
Clothes in Desk Set, Floating Clouds, Holiday, Stage Door, Summertime, Wife! Be Like a Rose!.
Wish I Skipped:
Hallelujah I’m a Bum
Artists and Models
Wanted to Watch But Couldn’t:
Sholay
Favourite Film Introductions:
Imogen Sara Smith for Of Mice and Men. I always learn something new whenever I hear her intros, especially when she contextualises the film to current times.
Gian Luca Farinelli for Erotikon, his intro ended with (as said by the English translator): “Erotikon, music by Gabriel Thibaudeau, Modernissimo, this is close to what heaven is.”
Other Highlights:
Molly Haskell
When the festival strands were announced a few months ago, I was happy to learn that Molly Haskell would attend and introduce films from the Katharine Hepburn strand that she curated. I ended up missing all her intros except for one, because most of the Hepburn films I watched were repeats. I saw her introduce Desk Set (1957), she talked about how Hepburn was one of the few actors who still found leading roles in her 50s which we don’t see today, and not having to rely on beauty, but the ‘erotics of intelligence’ that we see in the film, which also turned out to be a timely film about the fear of AI taking over people’s jobs.
Haskell also gave a talk moderated by Imogen Sara Smith, and I’m glad it was recorded and available to watch online.Jonathan Glazer
One of the guest filmmakers this year was Jonathan Glazer, who gave a masterclass where he discussed his work, and also revealed he is working on a new film. You can watch the masterclass here.
On the last day of the festival, and after a lovely dinner with friends, we walked to Piazza Maggiore to listen to Jonathan Glazer’s introduction for The Zone of Interest which was the closing film of the festival. The turnout for this screening was impressive, and the decision to end the festival with this particular film is even more impressive.
Considering the worsening conditions in Gaza and politicians who are living in their own version of a zone of interest who are enabling what’s happening there, showing this film is quite a statement by the festival.
As Glazer said in his introduction, and said many times before, the film is not just about the past, but about what is happening in present times.
Before Jonathan Glazer came on stage, a festival wrap up video was shown. The quote by Ehsan Khoshbakht at the start of this post is from this video. There is also this English translation of a line said in Italian by Nicola Mazzanti who co-founded Il Cinema Ritrovato with Gian Luca Farinelli in 1986, “…cinema knows no geography nor time…cinema isn’t Italian, French or American. Cinema is cinema.”
Or as they say in Italian, ”cHinema è cHinema”!
Everything I Watched:
Katharine Hepburn: Feminist, Acrobat And Lover:
Adam’s Rib (George Cukor, 1949, 35mm)
Christopher Strong (Dorothy Arzner,1933)
Desk Set (Walter Lang, 1957)
Stage Door (Gregory La Cava, 1937)
Holiday (George Cukor, 1938)
Summertime (David Lean, 1955, 35mm)
Sorrow And Passion: Pre-war Mikio Naruse
Avalanche (1937, 35mm)
The Girl in the Rumor (1935, 35mm)
Learn from Experience, Part One (1937, 35mm)
Learn from Experience, Part Two (1937, 35mm)
The Road I Travel with You (1936, 35mm)
Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts (1935, 35mm)
Wife! Be Like a Rose! (1935, 35mm)
A Woman’s Sorrows (1937, 35mm)
Sincerity (1939, 35mm)
Recovered and Restored
Artists and Models Frank Tashlin (1955)
Die Rose von Stambul (Arthur Wellin, 1919)
Erotikon (Gustav Machatý, 1929)
Floating Clouds (Mikio Naruse, 1955)
One Hour with You 1932 Ernst Lubitsch (1932)
The Scarlet Drop (John Ford, 1918)
Norden Noir
Death Is a Caress (Edith Carlmar, 1949, 35mm)
John and Irene (Asbjørn Andersen, Anker Sørensen, 1949)
Lewis Milestone: Of Wars And Men
Hallelujah, I’m a Bum (1933, 35mm)
Of Mice and Men (1939, 35mm)
