Roberto Rossellini at 120: Retrospectives in L.A. and New York

By Marcus Bennett

A 25-film Roberto Rossellini retrospective opens at Film Forum in New York on November 20 and runs through December 10. IndieWire reports that the program, titled “Rossellini 120,” marks the Italian neorealist director’s 120th birthday.

In Los Angeles, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Cinecittà and the Italian Ministry of Culture will present “Roberto Rossellini Prefers Real Life” beginning November 4 and 5. According to IndieWire, the Academy Museum series will run through November 30. IndieWire has also shared exclusive details and a trailer for the series.

Rossellini died in 1977 and turns 120 this year. According to IndieWire, members of his family will attend, including his daughter Isabella Rossellini, who will present films. Cinecittà CEO Manuela Cacciamani and Academy Museum president Amy Homma will also attend.

What does the restoration change for viewers?

The practical change is format and access: a new 4K restoration, a restored film arriving from Venice Classics and 35mm prints made available for the anniversary.

According to IndieWire, the Academy Museum audience will see the world premiere of Cinecittà’s new 4K restoration of “Fear” from 1954. Rossellini made “Fear” with Ingrid Bergman, and it was his last film with her. The Venice Classics premiere of the restored “Journey to Italy” will also reach the United States.

The announcement also gives the preservation program a measurable scale. Cinecittà says it has held rights to 10 representative films for 30 years, restores them in its own laboratories and preserves them in 35mm prints.

Isabella Rossellini will appear at the Academy Museum on November 4 and 5 and at Film Forum’s opening night. She said:

“My father belief that films are more than entertainment.

Cinema could bring awareness, knowledge and understanding.

These were the guiding forces of his work.

Father’s curiosity and love for life has always been an inspiration to me.

I am so happy I can see again his films on the big screen and share them with the Academy audience.

I thank Cinecittà for constantly preserving and restoring my father’s legacy, and the Academy Museum for supporting the dissemination of international cinema in its magnificent venue.”

Cacciamani, Cinecittà’s chief executive, said:

“For thirty years, Cinecittà has held the rights to ten of Roberto Rossellini’s most representative films.

These titles are periodically restored with the best available technologies in our own laboratories, and are also preserved in valuable 35mm prints, which will be made available exceptionally for this major event.

To paraphrase Preminger, there is cinema before Roberto Rossellini and cinema after Roberto Rossellini.

With this initiative, Cinecittà brings a revolutionary heritage of films, stories and emotions to the center of world cinema: the work of one of Italy’s greatest directors, a legacy for all humanity.

We are proud to present it together with our partner, the prestigious Academy Museum, following joint tributes already dedicated to great figures of Italian cinema such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Ennio Morricone, Sophia Loren and Carlo Rambaldi.”

IndieWire identifies Rossellini as best known for his films with his third wife, Ingrid Bergman:

• “Stromboli”
• “Europe ’51”
• “Fear”
• “Journey to Italy”
• “Joan of Arc at the Stake”

The Academy Museum lineup also includes:

• “Rome, Open City,” “Paisan” and “Germany, Year Zero”
• Guy Maddin’s “My Dad Is 100 Years Old,” featuring Isabella Rossellini
• “Viva Ingrid!” by Alessandro Rossellini
• “Rossellini Through His Own Eyes” by Adriano Aprà

IndieWire identifies the title “Roberto Rossellini Prefers Real Life” as an homage to François Truffaut’s 1963 essay. In it, Truffaut recognized Rossellini as the father of the French New Wave.

K.J. Relth-Miller programs the Academy Museum retrospective. According to IndieWire, Paola Ruggiero curates restoration and film-processing supervision for Cinecittà. Camilla Cormanni (Cinecittà) and Dawn Mori (Academy Museum) lead event conception and production.

The programs extend beyond a birthday marker by pairing restored Rossellini features with a Guy Maddin film and two documentaries. For viewers, the difference is practical: a 4K premiere, a restored “Journey to Italy” traveling from Venice Classics to the United States and 35mm prints made available exceptionally for the event.

The next measure of the 120th-birthday tribute will be whether these restorations keep Rossellini’s films in circulation after the November and December screenings end.