MILAN – “You have a Cinema America shirt, you are anti-fascist, take off this shirt immediately, you have to get out of here”. Piccolo Cinema America, or rather Piccolo America , is sadly on everyone’s lips in recent days due to a serious news story that took place on the night between Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 June. Four boys were beaten by a dozen or so attackers in their thirties, because one of them was wearing a Cinema America shirt. “I’m not afraid”
Fractured nose, but indomitable spirit. David Habib, the boy who wore the Cinema America t-shirt, said: “We will not stop visiting the territories of this city freely and claiming our ideas, just as we will not stop attending the screenings in San Cosimato and wearing the Cinema America t-shirt” . “This is a real squad aggression, – declares Valerio Carocci , president of Piccolo America – A very serious act in a city and country in disarray where violence is no longer condemned but rather it is defended and cleared as an instrument of justice by those who governs ». What is Piccolo Cinema America
It was 2012 when a group of 20-year-olds saved the historic Cinema America in Trastevere from imminent demolition and conversion into a parking lot, occupying the building and protesting against the building speculation and the degradation in which the cinema had been abandoned. They founded the Piccolo America association and started an activity to raise awareness of the neighborhood public opinion on the importance of safeguarding Cinema America and bringing it to new life.
In 2014 the Municipality finally cleared the building, but the children of Piccolo America have not stopped proposing cultural initiatives to enhance the neighborhood through the language of cinema. Characters of the caliber of Bernardo Bertolucci , Franco Rosiand Ettore Scola have supported them over the years in creating ambitious projects. For example, the Il Cinema in Piazza initiative , which for years has enlivened Roman summer nights by bringing cinema to the squares, in the suburbs as well as in the center, promoting an idea of inclusive culture open to all. Thus we read on the website of the initiative:
«From the outskirts we left and we go back to the outskirts. Those who were born and raised there, like most of us, know it. He knows what it means to grind kilometers on public transport to reach a bookshop, a cinema, a theater, a museum, or, more simply, a place to meet up with friends in the evening. And he knows what it means to feel cramped in such a large and populated neighborhood, yet so poor in social and cultural spaces. So we too have decided to roll up our sleeves and replace the void and silence with participation. The experience of the past few years has shown how cultural and social activity does not stop only at the cinema programming of an arena or theater, but is able to represent and promote growth, including economic, of all the activities of a neighborhood.We want this project to give life to places where different ideas of cities and new cultural expressions find citizenship, where we can ask ourselves questions through which to build new perspectives., where we can discuss and reflect on the future of cities, the role of cinemas and cinema, social, cultural and youth policies, integration and inclusion, the fight against crime, urban peripheries inside and on the margins Some cities. This is our idea of cultural and social activity, capable of stimulating reflection on the role of culture itself in the process of educational, training and working growth of young people, which is based on participatory planning, attentive to everyone’s needs, on a to know by doing ‘whose fruits grow over time ”. All with Cinema America
Culture is for everyone and for everyone. Welcoming, peaceful, non-violent. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Mayor Virginia Raggi expressed their condemnation of the brutal fascist violence, and many exponents of the world of culture expressed solidarity with Little America wearing the foundation’s burgundy T-shirts.
Full solidarity with the guys from Cinema America who were attacked last night. A cowardly and barbaric act, which must be strongly condemned. Thought and freedom of expression have nothing to do with violence. Rome is an open and inclusive city.
– Virginia Raggi (@virginiaraggi) June 16, 2019
British actor Jeremy Irons, Oscar winner for The Mystery Von Bulow, and spoke on Sunday evening on the stage in the square of San Cosimato on the occasion of Il cinema in piazza , before the screening of Bertolucci’s film I dance alone: ”I’m tired of extremism, I’m tired of people who cannot accept themselves in their vulnerability and in their humanity. We must be careful to avoid repeating what happened 75 years ago ».
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Here’s how Jeremy Irons responded to yesterday
‘s attack #JeremyIrons #CinemaAmerica #SanCosimato #IlCinemainPiazza #Trastevere #Cinema #Movie #EstateRomana #Estate
A post shared by The Boys of Cinema America (@piccoloamerica) on: Jun 17th, 2019 at 2:36 am PDT
