“Our cinema, say the very young people, will not be a commercial theater as we are used to thinking, but a place to show auteur films and above all a place where it is possible to sit and talk” And the English director sends a video in support of ‘initiative
“I, Daniel Blake I really liked it because it is based on three themes that are close to my heart: social inequality, human dignity and solidarity. These themes deal with the difficulties of ordinary life. And then in my opinion Ken Loach directed the film with a sensitivity that made it reach the highest levels, in fact it won the Palme D’Or”. This is what Noemi, 13 years old, a student who follows my cinema course as part of the Messapica Film Festival training project, tells me in a voice.
Noemi, together with many other young people between 11 and 18 years old, will inaugurate the Ken Loach Piccolo Cinema in Mesagne, Salento on Saturday 27 April, a one-of-a-kind cinema: a cinema entirely run by teenagers and dedicated to the great English director .
A project born in the wake of audiovisual language training that together with Simone Amendola we have been carrying out throughout Italy for over fifteen years with the Blue Desk association.
As soon as the pandemic allowed us to do so, we returned to schools, and for the first time in Mesagne, involving first and second level high school students. What is happening in Mesagne demonstrates that passion is contagious and that cinema has the power to make extraordinary things happen. Not only Ken Loach, but also De Sica, Georges Méliès, Martin Scorsese, The Lumière brothers, Alice Guy. Our students saw Bike thieves and they were very excited, they made several short films, they created an Instagram channel dedicated to cinema reviews and pills, they manage a summer arena and for the student week they organized production, set design and acting masterclasses. An unprecedented wave of warmth and enthusiasm.
The Ken Loach Piccolo Cinema, the very young people are keen to point out, will not be a commercial theater as we are used to thinking, but a place to screen art films from the present and the past and above all a place where it is possible to sit and talk about film just seen, exchange ideas and points of view. Recover a way of being together around the stories and emotions of which only cinema is capable.
A project that strongly believes in watching films in theaters, as a moment of closeness and warmth between people. A gift that the small managers give to the whole community: a small inclusive place, free and aimed at everyone.
The continuity of the project was of vital importance in achieving the maturation of this very special cinema. The Municipality of Mesagne and the National Cinema and Images for School Plan, promoted by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education and Merit, which supported the “MEFF School Lab” project in the last stretch of the road, were decisive. the scope of the call for projects of territorial relevance for the 2022-23 school year.
However, the birth of this small cinema also brings with it a very special invitation: the community of Mesagne gathered for a touching video message of invitation to the great director Ken Loach. “If we eat together, we stay united” is the writing that can be seen from above on a long table, a warning that comes directly from The Old Oakthe last work of the English master (Ken Loach recently declared that he will no longer make films as a director).
Around Mesagne’s table sit faces and stories that are very distant from each other – of different nationalities and backgrounds – and all together they invite the maestro to take a seat at the table during the summer. The video message aims to be a clear and strong signal in a historical moment in which we are powerless, an invitation to the world to take one more step towards others.
The idea comes from me and Simone Amendola who have had a connection with the director for over twenty years, first with the creation of a backstage on the set of Ticketsthen with the documentary When elephants fight in which Loach participates with a significant testimony, finally with the Messapica Film Festival of Mesagne, which sees Mr Loach in the Honorary Committee.
Many lines that on April 27th intersect in Mesagne with the inauguration of the Piccolo Cinema Ken Loach, a pilot dream deeply inspired by the civil cinema of the English master, with the hope for the new generations to carry forward through cinema (and not only ) the battles that concern humanity and sociality, against any form of closure and individualism.
The original drawing of the director’s face, which appears in the cinema’s logo, is a gift to the project by the artist Alessandra Dieffe.
