Ravenna does not lose its summer arena: the open-air cinema remains at Rocca Brancaleone, programming starts on 26 June

Ravenna will not lose its beloved summer cinema arena. Although the redevelopment works of the Arce della Rocca Brancaleone, which hosts the city’s open-air cinema every summer, are underway and the space is therefore unusable, a solution has been found solution to maintain the same locationmuch loved by the Ravenna public.

For summer 2024 you move to a space adjacent to the usual one, to the right of the Arce itself and bordered on two sides by the walls of the fortress. There ticket office instead, it will remain at the entrance to the fortress, where it has always been positioned. The arena will be some sort of trianglewhose third side, which therefore delimits the cinema space from the rest of the park, will be cordoned off and covered with sound-absorbing panels to limit noise pollution.

The logistical solution, together with the film season, was presented this morning, with a press conference in which they participated Alberto Beltrani and Tiziano Gamberiniof society Cinemaincentro who manages the exhibition, the culture councilor Fabio Sbaraglia for the Municipality of Ravenna, Roberto Artioli and Matteo Papiof the Circle of Dreams – Antonio Ricciwhich collaborates on the program with the proposal of some short films and Jacopo Muttiof society Jemon behalf of the group of companies that manages the space, Cooperativa San Vitale, Jem company and Cooperativa Villaggio Globale.

Inside the cinema space they will find space 300 seats, 200 less than those usually available, but the Rocca arena has always been a little oversized compared to the average attendance, which is around 170-180 people per evening. The hope of the organizers is therefore that of Don’t leave anyone out. Although the solution is temporary, for the duration of a single season, we have tried to guarantee the maximum possible comfort for the public: the seats will be positioned on a wooden platforma sort of “carpet” without steps that isolates the chairs from the grass below, making it easy to be present even in the event of afternoon rain.

The “little house” that houses the 2k projector it is already assembled and on the opposite side, the wall side, one will soon be set up 5×8 meter screen.

Soon, without a doubt, because the first screening is set for Wednesday 26 June, therefore in exactly one week. It starts with a national premiere,”Hit Man – Accidental Killer” and continues with an evening screening for the entire month of June and July. Beginning, as always, at 9.30pm. The programming for August and the first weeks of September is practically ready, all that remains to be defined is the national previews that will come out of the Venice Film Festival, so it will be presented later.

News 2024the possibility of combine the cinematic experience with the culinary onethanks to the collaboration with the Bar della Rocca, which will propose a fixed pairing to the cinema evenings, consisting of a plate of tagliatelle with meat sauce with water and wine for 15 euros, to be consumed at the table or to take directly to the cinema. On the occasion of some particular films, such as the evening screening of Perfect Days, Wim Wenders’ latest work set in Japan, a dedicated menu is being studied, inspired by the film itself. Another option being studied is to have dinner after the film with a spaghetti all’amatriciana at midnight. For food, reservations are mandatory, also because this way a “preferential lane” will be reserved for spectators of the open-air cinema, so as not to be late for the show.

The promotion promoted by the Ministry of Culture is renewed for this season too “Cinema Revolution“, which from 14 June to 14 September allows you to go to the cinema and watch Italian films for the price of 3.50 euros. In the first part of Rocca Cinema’s programming, there are 26 Italian films out of the total titles offered. An interesting promotion for the public and which will hopefully contribute to relaunching cinema in Italy which, after the pandemic, has not yet recovered the accumulated gap and is still losing around 30%.

The first screenings

The screenings will begin, Wednesday 26 Junewith a national premiere film: “Hit man – Accidental killer” by the talented director Richard Linklater which tells of a shy philosophy professor from New Orleans who works part-time as an IT consultant for the city police department. This latest occupation will suddenly take an unexpected turn.

Thursday 27 June comes the first guest of the season. It’s about the director Pablo D’Ambrosi which will present one of the cinematic cases of the year: “Food for Profit” signed by D’Ambrosi and Giulia Innocenzi. Documentary that shows the thread that links the meat industry, lobbies and political power. At the center are the billions of euros that Europe allocates to intensive farming, which mistreats animals, pollutes the environment and represents a danger for future pandemics. The movie will be preceded by the German short film “Enjoy your meal” (2’30”) by Sofie Kienzle and Christian Manzke.

Friday 28 June will be screened”There’s still tomorrow”, the revelation film of the season directed by Paola Cortellesi who is also the interpreter together with Valerio Mastandrea. The work is a magnificent fresco of the hard struggle for women’s emancipation. The film won 6 David di Donatello.

Saturday 29 June comedy is planned “A world apart” by Riccardo Milani. In the film Antonio Albanese and Virginia Raffaele desperately try to save a mountain school destined for closure. The multi-class school, due to the particularly pronounced demographic decline in the internal areas and therefore the lack of new enrolments, seems to be destined for suppression.

Sunday 30 June another great success from last season will be staged. It will be screened”Mischief at home” by Thea Sharrock with Olivia Colman. In 1922 in Littlehampton the routine of a small town is upset by a series of obscene and insulting anonymous letters addressed to Edith Swan. She is a devout, Christian woman, her reputation for rectitude and moral impeccability precedes her. Quite the opposite of her neighbor Rose Gooding, a lively, rebellious and non-conformist Irish immigrant.

The second appointment with the authors is scheduled for Thursday 4 Julywhen director Gianluca Santoni will present “Me and the dry” together with the actors Francesco Lombardo and Swamy Rotolo. The film, shot on the shores of Ravenna last summer, tells the story of Denni, a ten-year-old boy who is very close to his mother Maria, tired of seeing the woman mistreated by his father. Before the film, the short film “Katvoman” will be screened (7′) by Iranian director Hedi Sheibani, who won the prize dedicated to film schools at the “Corti da Sogni – Antonio Ricci” festival 2024.

The programming continues with the best titles released in the season just ended. For more information and the complete program www.cinemaincentro.com

THE STATEMENTS

“Every year the city fondly awaits the start of the film festival – declares the Councilor for Culture Fabio Sbaraglia – and this summer, precisely because the Arce area is involved in massive renovation works, it was even more important for us to guarantee the continuity of the open-air cinema. We are very happy, and for this we thank the availability and collaboration of the park managers, for having managed to find a solution that keeps this activity within the spaces of the Rocca”.

“We start again with great enthusiasm after that in the summers of 2022 and 2023, Rocca Cinema placed itself in the top ten of Italian summer arenas in terms of audience attendance – explain Alberto Beltrani and Tiziano Gamberini of Cinemaincentro -. In 2023, with over 16 thousand spectators in total, we were the second arena in Emilia-Romagna; before us only the Puccini arena in Bologna. So we are very happy to continue along the path we have undertaken and offer a new season which will, as usual, offer many films of great interest and many guests who will be in Ravenna to present their works”.

Beltrani and Gamberini also intervene on the new screening location. “It’s not a rebound – they say –, indeed it represents an excellent solution with a certain impact on the public. The arena is shielded on two sides by the walls of the fortress and on the third side we will have a covering of sound-absorbing panels. We are convinced that the public will appreciate this solution and that magic that has always characterized Rocca Cinema events will be recreated. The programming will continue until September.”

The 2024 season will also see the collaboration of the Sogni club with the presentation of some of the best short films admired during the last edition of the Corti da Sogni – Antonio Ricci festival. “We are happy to be able to make our contribution again this year – comment by Roberto Artioli and Matteo Papi of the Sogni club –. The collaboration with Cinemaincentro is increasingly solid and the summer event represents a great opportunity to re-propose the most appreciated works during the short film festival. The first appointments are for Thursday 27 June with the biting German work ‘Enjoy your meal’ by Sofie Kienzle and Christian Manzle and for Thursday 4 July with the Iranian short, winner of the Film School Award, ‘Katvoman’ by Hadi Sheibani. On Tuesday 9 July the winning work of the Green Planet section will be screened: the French film ‘La Montée’ by David Tessier which talks about the world of information and climate change. On July 25th, the South Korean ‘Busan, 1999’ will be broadcast, best international short at the 25th edition of Corti da Sogni, combined with the film Past Lives”.