Thread by @NickWhithorn

As it seems to be as popular as ever, here are my two annecdotes regarding the film 'Cinema Paradiso' (or 'Nuovo Cinema Paradiso' as it was called in Italy) in a short thread >> 1

https://twitter.com/NickWhithorn/status/1425199925063790597

Cinema Paradiso won an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film in 1990 but possibly would never have achieved this if it hadn't been for a man called Giovanni Parlagreco from Messina, where I live >> 2

When origianlly released in Italy, in November 1988, Giuseppe Tornatore had already cut the film from its original 173min to 155min (he'd been working on it for 6 years). Its debut at the box office was an unmitigated disaster, everywhere, except in one cinema in Messina >> 3

Cinemas all over Italy stopped screening it, except Cinema Aurora in Messina. Not only did it continue screening here but takings went up & up. Tornatore didn't understand why it was so successful here, when it'd been a disaster elsewhere, so he came to Messina to investigate >>4

He found that the cinema manager, Giovanni Parlagreco, was so convinced the film deserved success that he let people in for free & they only paid on exit if they had enjoyed it: almost everyone did. He even stood on the pavement in front of the cinema touting for business >> 5

The determination shown by Parlagreco helped convince Tornatore to persist. He further cut the film to 123min and it was re-released in this version in September 1989 to wide acclaim, going on to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in March 1990 >> 6

Here I add my personal anecdote. In 1990, I'd returned to the UK to take a PGCE. One day in November, there was a heavy snowstorm & only a few students turned up. A local multiscreen was showing Cinema Paradiso so I suggested abandoning afternoon lessons to see it >> 7

Everyone agreed, including the tutor, even though they'd never heard of it, on the basis of my assurances they wouldn't regret it. So, we piled into 3 cars and headed off through the snowstorm >> 8

Early afternoon on a November weekday in a snowstorm, our 3 cars were the only ones in the huge car park at the out of town retail park multiscreen cinema. The staff reluctantly opened up just for us, the only customers >> 9

The heating system was struggling, so we sat watching a film set in sweltering Sicily dressed in our coats, scarves & gloves. A surreal experience. When the lights came up after the famous closing sequence, I looked around. Not a dry eye in the house. // 10