Lucem House 10th Anniversary Celebration: Cinema Paradiso (12)

As the poster says we'd like to invite you to join us, completely free, to celebrate 10 years of Lucem House Community Cinema and the 100th anniversary of Community Cinema in the UK.

Director Guiseppe Tornatore's bittersweet, Oscar-winning film stars Philippe Noiret as a grizzled old projectionist who takes pride in his presentation of screen dreams for a town still recovering from World War II. When a child (Jacques Perrin) demonstrates fascination not only for movies but also for the process of showing them to an audience, a lifelong friendship is struck.

After receiving news of the death of his old friend Alfredo, a famous movie director returns to his home village after spending 30 years away. In flashback, he recalls his fatherless childhood, his fascination with the films he saw at the local cinema, and his adventures with Alfredo, the cinema's projectionist.

Cinema Paradiso was shot in director Tornatore's hometown Bagheria, Sicily, as well as Cefalù on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The town square in the film is Piazza Umberto I in the village of Palazzo Adriano, about 48 kilometres (30 mi) south of Palermo. The Paradiso Cinema was built there, at Via Nino Bixio, overlooking the octagonal Baroque fountain, which dates from 1608.

The film intertwines sentimentality with comedy, and nostalgia with pragmaticism. It explores issues of youth, coming of age, and reflections (in adulthood) about the past.

Credited with revitalizing Italy's film industry, Cinema Paradiso has been cited as one of the greatest films of all time, and a world cinema classic. The ending is considered among the greatest endings in film history. It was a commercial success, and won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Cannes Film Festival's Grand Prix.

It was nominated for 11 BAFTA Awards and won five; including Best Actor for Philippe Noiret, Best Supporting Actor for Salvatore Cascio, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Foreign Language Film, a record for a foreign language feature until it was broken by All Quiet on the Western Front in 2023.

Our second free film of the week is an absolute classic. A sweet hymn to the romance of cinema. If you have never seen Cinema Paradiso then grab this opportunity.