Now everyone is looking for the burgundy T-shirts of Cinema America and not only in Trastevere, in the heart of Rome, where the vile attacks by the Casapound fascists on the boys who animate the evenings of the "Cinema in Piazza" in the center and in the suburbs of the capital have made to become a symbol of democracy and participation throughout the country. But, beyond the obvious condemnation of fascist violence, it is the project and the cultural model of the boys of the "Piccolo America" association, which promotes events in three Roman arenas with full houses every evening, which intrigues and not only in Rome. Right and left, young people and families, prisoners and intellectuals: all together to brave the heat and see the most beautiful films of the Italian and international artistic heritage and discuss them in the square with actors and directors. What is the secret and the key to the success of such a rare opportunity for popular participation in our times?
“It was the director Paolo Sorrentino, who in 2013 came to present “La dolce vita” at Cinema America and was busy igniting the spark and making us understand that we were holding a treasure” he says – in this interview with FIRSTonline – Valerio Carocci, 27 years old, former lay scout, founder and president but above all the mind and soul of "Little America". However, he warns: "When our adventure began with the occupation of Cinema America in Rome to prevent its demolition, none of us were cinephiles and in reality what we were looking for and are still looking for now are spaces for participation, solidarity, inclusion , of welcome, of comparison, of integration between culture and politics, with respect to which cinema is an extraordinary driving force of communication but not an end in itself". Perhaps – as Carocci himself explains – the experience of "Cinema America" cannot be exported tout court to other cities in Italy but it deserves to be known and meditated on also because the boys wearing the burgundy shirts are determined to give it a sequel that is beyond the summer evenings. Let's see which one.
President, after Casapound's fascist attacks on the children of the "Cinema in Piazza" in Piazza San Cosimato in Trastevere, in the heart of Rome, what is the value today, in terms of cultural and political identity, of a T-shirt from your association, "Little America ", which is animating the nights of the capital in this hot summer?
“The “Little America” T-shirts, beyond our own intentions, have become a symbol in which the democratic and progressive camp can recognize itself clearly and directly and beyond the fences, precisely at a time when the left of symbols it has few. It is something that obviously pleases us because, beyond the fascist attacks against our activists, it marks the evolution of a path in which the initial experience of Cinema America, which we occupied in November 2012 after a long with the inhabitants of Trastevere to avoid its demolition and one of the usual episodes of building speculation, it has been transformed into a cultural and political enterprise”.
How many T-shirts have you sold so far and who buys them?
“A lot, but it wasn't and isn't a commercial operation. T-shirts don't have a price: whoever wants them just has to make a free offer. The beauty is that they sell like hot cakes and that many young people but also elderly or middle-aged people ask us for them, who they find in our "Cinema in Piazza", in Trastevere as in the two new arenas that we have set up on the outskirts of Rome, in the Casale Park della Cervelletta in Tor Sapienza and at the Tourist Port of Ostia, territory seized by the Court of Rome to restore it to legality, a meeting point that did not exist before. What has approached us is a transversal people, which unites not only right and left, but which ranges from young people who are sometimes a little forced to refined intellectuals: the defense of democracy and freedom and the taste for confrontation is what – through quality cinema – it brings them together”.
Involuntarily, the attacks that you have suffered from Casapound have given you national notoriety, but don't you think that all of this risks somewhat tarnishing the success of the "Cinema in Piazza" that you promoted in Rome and above all the uniqueness of your cultural model?
"In fact the news - now because of the fascist attacks but last year because of the obstacles, later overcome, which the Giunta Raggi had posed to us - has somewhat obscured the originality of our cultural project which has always been the one to break down the barriers of culture and to create, through cinema and massive use of social media, places and spaces for aggregation, inclusion, solidarity and participation in a city that needs to open up and redefine its identity. Rome cannot be entrusted only to hit and run tourism or to the solitude of the suburbs. In this sense, cinema can open up and change the way of doing politics, in the noble sense of the term, just as politics and public debate can prevent cinema from becoming self-referential and closing in on itself. This is what the experience of the "Cinema in Piazza" recounts, which this year will total 104 evenings of free screenings in Rome's three summer arenas with 104 different films, debates with directors, actors, screenwriters and workers, retrospectives and great classics of national and international cinematographic heritage, without forgetting films dedicated to children".
By bringing the "Cinema to the Piazza" did you think you would be able to bring citizens, and in particular the younger generations, closer to quality films and fill the arenas every night with a success with an audience that seemed unthinkable?
“Paolo Sorrentino made us understand this in 2013 when he came to Cinema America busy presenting “La Dolce Vita” in front of a thousand ecstatic kids. It was there that the spark struck and we realized that we were holding a treasure that prompted us to create a communication channel with quality cinema that Italy had never intercepted. Bear in mind that initially the Cinema America guys weren't cinephiles and that we discovered the value of cinema along the way thanks to the help of great masters such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Franco Rosi and Ettore Scola who have always supported us in our political battle - cultural. The beauty is telling ordinary people about cinema and making them fall in love with the films that represent our country's heritage, but the beauty is also seeing so many people who gather with pleasure in our arenas and who, at least in the summer, forget the indifference and loneliness".
There are those who have seen in your cultural model an ideal connection with the season of the famous Roman summers of the late 70s and 80s of the late councilor Renato Nicolini: it is he who inspired you with the "Cinema in Piazza"?
“No, with all due respect to Nicolini's great experience, our starting point and our path was different. If I may recall a family memory, the starting point of our project and our cultural model was suggested by my grandmother, Mirella Arcangeli, who had been councilor for the Municipality of Rome in the 80s in the progressive councils of mayors Argan and Petroselli. He always reminded us that Rome badly needed a lively integration between politics and culture and that cinema could be the driving force behind a new way of doing politics to promote solidarity and participation and that at the same time cinema needed meet people in the flesh. After Cinema America was cleared out, we were looking for a way not to waste energy and transform what we had learned from that magical evening in 2013 with Sorrentino into a new collective experience. From there came the idea of outdoor screenings and from there we set off to found the “Piccolo America” association, of which I am honored to be president and which has the pride of having Ettore Scola as a member and honorary president”.
But to promote over 100 screenings in the Roman summer, do I imagine that the “Piccolo America” association has a powerful organizational machine behind it?
“In reality we count on 21 volunteers and a team of 40 young people, mostly from Ostia and Tor Sapienza, to whom we give a seasonal job paying them 30 euros net per evening plus dinner for a commitment that takes them from 19pm at 30 pm. Fortunately, there is no shortage of free solidarity offers from citizens and the profits we make are reinvested in our association”.
Involuntarily, however, you ended up competing with big personalities in the cinema: from Carlo Verdone, who ran the cinema in Rome a stone's throw from Piazza San Cosimato and which closed in recent years to Nanni Moretti, who founded the Nuovo Sacher always in Trastevere. Did you realize this?
“No, there's no competition, both because our events are free and above all because we don't screen first-run films from the last season but only retrospectives. On the other hand, Verdone, who is one of our supporters and who often attends the “Cinema in Piazza”, was only the artistic director of Cinema Roma, which was owned by Er Viperetta, Massimo Ferrero, and which had closed before we started with the our evenings outdoors. We have clarified ourselves with Nanni Moretti for some time and we really don't compete with him, which if anything comes from commercial TVs".
Is the “Cinema in Piazza” model replicable outside Rome and in other parts of Italy? Have you ever thought about it?
“No, it's not an exportable model. For two reasons. In the first place because an experience like ours must start spontaneously: we cannot replace the kids of other cities, from which the initiative must come – if they want it. Everyone must be able to read and interpret their own territory and we cannot be the ones to do it for others. Secondly, the capital of cinema is Rome: here it is easy to invite directors and actors to the square, but not as much in other Italian cities. However, we are very willing to make our know-how available to other cities and other similar experiences and this is why we collaborate with the Amantea Festival in Calabria, with that of Perugia and with the film events organized by the Giambellino boys on the outskirts from Milan".
However, the summer of the “Cinema in the square” lasts only two months, but what about the rest of the year? Have you thought about how to give continuity to your magical evenings?
"Certainly. This is why we want to reopen and relaunch the Sala Troisi in Trastevere to make it a permanent point of quality cinema screening. We won the 2015 tender which has a budget of one million euros for the renovation works alongside the funds that we can invest with subscriptions, but we are grappling with the appeals to the TAR which will be discussed in October. Our idea is to transform Trastevere into a multiplex spread throughout the area with projections that illuminate the most beautiful alleys of the neighborhood and that can also involve the historic bridges over the Tiber. If we manage to win the battle for the Sala Troisi, the “Cinema in Piazza” will no longer dance only in the summer”.
