Cinema Lessons Marathon

Lesson “Marathon”, Saturday 25 November, for the 7th edition of Cinema Lessons “History, Stories” organized in synergy between 50&Più University of Livorno, Center for the Study of Italian Comedy, Erasmo Libri Editore and the Kinoglaz Film Club, which have been promoting cinema culture in the local area for years.

The topic addressed by multiple voices in this third lesson will be “ITALIAN HISTORY FROM UNIFICATION TO THE BERLUSCONI ERA THROUGH FILMS”.

The cost of the marathon lesson is €7.00 for the afternoon session and €5.00 for the evening session; cumulative for both sessions is €10.00.

Here is the program for the “Marathon”:

Afternoon session 16.00 – 19.00

Federico Lenzi “1860 The Thousand of Garibaldi” by Alessandro Blasetti (1934)

Massimo Ghirlanda “The Organizer” by Mario Monicelli (1963)

Marco Bruciati “Many Wars Ago” by Francesco Rosi (1970)

Elena Franchini “In the Lost City of Sarzana” by Luigi Faccini (1980)

Fabio Canessa “The Long Night of ’43” by Florestano Vancini (1960)

Evening session 21.15 – 23.00

Leonardo Moggi “Bicycle Thieves” by Vittorio De Sica (1948)

Michele Cecchini “Good Morning, Night” by Marco Bellocchio (2003)

Anna Pala “The Caiman” by Nanni Moretti (2006)

Federico Lenzi, degree in Contemporary History, literature teacher at the Enrico Fermi High School in Cecina, member of the “Lanterne Magiche” project. He is a member of the Center for the Study of Italian Comedy and is involved in organizing projects and research to promote film culture, especially in schools.

Massimo Ghirlanda, graduated in Literary Theory with Remo Ceserani, is a teacher in high schools and one of the founders of the Center for the Study of Italian Comedy in Castiglioncello, of which he has been president since 2009. He is the creator of Cinema Lessons in Livorno. He has taught courses on film history and has focused on Italian filmmakers, writing articles for “Cabiria” and “Bianco e Nero”. In 2007, he published the volume “Castiglioncello and Cinema” for Pacini Publishers. He is the editor of the series “I Quaderni di Storia del cinema” for Erasmo Publishers, for which he has edited critical editions of the screenplays for “Il Sorpasso” by Scola and Maccari and “In the Name of the Italian People” by Age and Scarpelli. He has been a member of the jury for the Suso Cecchi d’Amico Award for Best Screenplay since 2012. In 2022, he received the Scola Prize in Trevico for his cultural activities.

Marco Bruciati was born in Livorno, graduated in film, theater, and multimedia production from the University of Pisa, and is currently a teacher of theories and techniques of multimedia communications. He works as a videomaker and cultural operator with the Kinoglaz Film Club, where he is involved in organizing projects and research to enhance and promote quality film culture, curating events, seminars, and film forums.

Elena Franchini, born in Pisa, graduated in Literature. She works at the Library of Art History at the University of Pisa, which has a rich collection of books and magazines on the history of cinema. She is a member of the board of the Franco Serantini Library – Institute of Social History, Resistance and Contemporary Age of the Province of Pisa.

Fabio Canessa, advisor to the Ministry of Culture, film critic for Il Tirreno, collaborator on television shows and theater performances, has recently written about Pasolini and Anna Magnani.

Leonardo Moggi, filmmaker and film historian. Coordinator and teacher of “Lanterne Magiche” in the Tuscany Region, an educational program on film language for schools of all levels.

Michele Cecchini, born in Lucca, graduated in Literature from the University of Pisa with a thesis on Leopardi and the moon, teaches literature in a high school in Livorno.

With Erasmo Publisher, he published his first novel in 2010, From April to Shantih, which opened a series of presentations of debut authors organized by the Dante Alighieri Society in Prague. In 2015, he published his second novel, For the Good I Wish You, also for Erasmo Publisher. It has been presented in many Italian cities, Canada, and the United States, and was featured as “Book of the Day” on the Fahrenheit program on Rai RadioTre. In 2017, he wrote the theatrical monologue Pizzicotti, directed and performed by Nicoletta La Terra of the “Compagnia dei Masnadieri”. In the same year, he collaborated on the lyrics for Bobo Rondelli’s album “Anime storte”. In 2019, 2021, and 2023, his latest novels “The Sky for Last”, “And This Is Nothing”, and “A Sudden Bite” were published by Bollati Boringhieri.

Anna Pala, graduated in contemporary history with a thesis on the anti-fascist intellectual Leo Valiani, a long-time follower of Nanni Moretti and always an attentive observer of the “phenomenon” Silvio Berlusconi, will illustrate Berlusconism through the film “The Caiman” with the support of archival material. Since 2011, she has been a member of the Center for the Study of Italian Comedy in Castiglioncello, where she is particularly involved in the “Lanterne Magiche” film series, researching films suitable for young people and/or lesser-known films and providing introductions before screenings.

Participants in the series of meetings will receive a certification to potentially receive academic credit.