Positive balance of Rocca Cinema release for 2023. It started with a packed premiere that brought “Taken” (Marco Bellocchio’s latest film) to the big screen and ended with three sold-out shows for the box office record “Barbie” (actress Margot Robbie pictured). The summer event in the courtyard of the city’s symbolic monument was a great success.
The final results of the film-under-the-stars event, organized by film production and production company Start Cinema in collaboration with the municipality, actually “exceeded all expectations.” This is stated by the organizers themselves, according to which the times of Covid and post-pandemic, when masks and seats in the hall were halved due to social distancing, “fortunately seem distant and already outdated.”
In fact, there were many people who preferred to watch movies outdoors from June to September. And special recognition should certainly be given to the great projects planned. With a total attendance of around 12 thousand people and an average number of spectators among the highest in Emilia-Romagna (more than 182 people per evening), the event makes peace with its past. We look back to 2019, that is, the pre-Covid era.
“We are encouraged not only by sold-out events,” explains Franco Calandrini, artistic director of the festival and one of the founders of Start Cinema, “all It Happens Tomorrow events are designed to bring the public closer to those whose films have been highly acclaimed, as well as films intended for children and more mature audiences.”
There is a great desire to return to the cinema and experience the emotions that only a cinema can offer, and if it is held outdoors and in one of the most charming places in the city, the offer will become even more sensual and magical. A variety of entertaining films suitable for everyone make evenings spent at Rocca di Imola even more special, when the starry sky is enough to create a magnificent setting for watching a good film.
“We are very pleased,” repeats Calandrini, “. The results of this release encourage us to move forward in this sector, which we are always very passionate about. Even without the participation among the guests of national level guests who preferred a different kind of attention, but who, believing in the strength of our numbers, we hope that in the next few years spectators will fill the Rocca. This,” concludes the artistic director of Rocca Cinema, “is the result of great films released in cinemas that have aroused the interest of the public, but also of a public that also feels the need to move again and choose cinema, recognizing its human value.”