Despite the fascist attacks and intimidation, the "Cinema in Piazza", which enlivened the summer evenings in Rome with 100 free screenings in three arenas in the capital, thanks to the brilliant organization of the Cinema America kids and the presence of directors, first-rate actors and filmmakers, it was not only a successful public event but an example of cultural entrepreneurship of success that deserves to be studied. The numbers tell it: boom in audiences, sponsors and net assets. And it is no coincidence that the major international newspapers – from the Times to the Nouvel Observateur, from the Guardian to the New York Times – have also turned their spotlights on Cinema America.
According to the preliminary data provided by theLittle America Association which promotes and manages the "Cinema in Piazza" both in the heart of Rome (in Piazza San Cosimato in Trastevere) and in the distant suburbs (at Casale della Cervelletta in Tor Sapienza and at the Tourist Port of Ostia, an asset confiscated from criminals by the Court of Rome ) spectators who attended the open-air screenings in the 3 arenas in June and July were over 100 with a 37% increase compared to 2018, when total spectators were 150 but with double the screenings.
Since 2015, when film screenings began in the square, spectators were 420 in total and they made some guys from Cinema America (read the interview to the founder Valerio Carocci) and their unmistakable burgundy T-shirts, against which the violence of the extreme right has been hurled, a symbol of democratic participation, of mild anti-fascism, of civil recovery and of civic solidarity against the loneliness and marginalization of the suburbs .
In addition to spectators, there is also a clear increase in sponsors who have understood the importance of "Cinema in the Square" and who they are half public and half private: the historic lenders represented by the Lazio Region, Siae, Bnl Bnp Paribas and Ipab Asilo Savoia were joined this year by Alitalia, the Rome Chamber of Commerce, the Fondazione Cultura e Arte-Terzo Pilastro and the AS Roma football club. Partners of the event are also the Roma Natura Regional Body and the Tourist Port of Rome as well as the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Education.
Precisely the public success and the accounts in order of the "Piccolo America" association, founded and chaired by Valerio Carocci, who is the true soul of the novelty that is enlivening the world of culture in Rome, represent the basis for giving continuity and for giving a future at the wedding between cinema and citizens. Thanks to the donations and the sale of over 7 burgundy T-shirts with a free offer, the association closed the 2018 financial statements with a profit of over 50 thousand euros, after having almost tripled the turnover of the previous year, and everything suggests that in 2019 the accounts are even better.
But what will the kids from Cinema America do when the summer is over? The project is ambitious but it is already planned: renovate and revitalize the historic Troisi room – next door to Nanni Moretti's Nuovo Sacher – and make it the spearhead of a widespread cinema project that should involve other historic cinemas in Trastevere and make the bridges over the Tiber that surround the heart of Rome.
