Past Meets Present for FUA’s Movie Night

written by Paula Simon Borja & Jack Wardynski for SPEL: Journalism

Florence University of the Arts students gathered at Corso Tintori 21 for a screening of the popular 2023 Italian film C’è Ancora Domani. Popcorn and soda were served in the notorious Sala Rosa as students settled in for a night of good cinema.

C’è Ancora Domani, directed by Paola Cortellesi, is one of the biggest Italian-language films in recent years. The story is set in post-World War southern Italy and follows a mother named Delia as she struggles to keep her life and family in order while suffering serious domestic abuse at the hands of her husband, Ivano. As Italian women first gain the right to vote, and with a crucial election coming up that will determine the future of the nation, Delia envisions a better life for herself, if she only has the courage to attain it.

“I think it's important to uncover this part of, sometimes, what it means to be a woman,” said Allyson Cousino, Assistant Dean of Students and one of the organizers of the student life event. “Or how gender is understood and the power dynamics in a culture and how that impacts women in particular. And I think to have a space where these conversations can be something that's discussed openly is important.”

Alongside that, the film gives students living in Italy the opportunity to enrich their knowledge of its profile, both cultural and historical. Exposure to a piece of contemporary Italian culture like C’è Ancora Domani gives students a sense for what current-day Italians look for in their art and popular culture. The historical setting and subject matter of the film provides them context for how Italy became the country they see today. Even beyond that, Sala Rosa, with its beautiful Renaissance paintings and classical architecture, takes students even further back in time, and subconsciously creates the links in their minds of centuries of historical legacy that led up to the modern day.

“I love movies, and I'm always interested in foreign cinema. Obviously Italian. And it deals with a very, very interesting subject,” said Alex Clark, a Finance & English Literature student who attended the screening. “Students should come out to more things like this, you never know what you're going to find. You can never get a bad experience from trying something new like this.”

Promoting cinema-going has been a major point of emphasis in Italy in recent years. With the rise of streaming services like Netflix, combined with the closing of theaters during the pandemic in 2020, attendance at movie theaters has dipped considerably. While the numbers are rebounding gradually, they are still far from the peaks seen over a decade ago. This trend is not exclusive to Italy; across the globe, going to the movies has become much less prevalent in culture. Events like this film screening put on by the Student Life Department at FUA can be useful for reigniting people’s passion for seeing films in a theater again.

This semester, FUA has prioritized discussions of diversity and inclusion in the student events that it hosts. In October, an IREOS discussion group seeked to empower LGBTQ+ students both in Florence and beyond, and a film like C’è Ancora Domani promotes awareness of issues like misogyny and domestic violence that are still prevalent in Italy today. Even though the movie is a historical fiction drama filmed in black-and-white, it proves its relevance to those living in the modern day.

“I think, in general the hope is with these events that we get student feedback and input. That we want to be able to create events that are of interest to students or topics that students are interested in. So I think for students to know also that there's a two-way conversation in event creation. That we want to involve you all. And that's really why the diversity and inclusion series is going on this semester. Because of student input from the spring. So this has kind of been a result,” said Cousino.

FUA students are encouraged to keep up-to-date with the latest news on events held by the Student Life Department. The gatherings provide not only an opportunity to connect more with fellow students studying abroad, but also the chance to connect with the country of Italy on a more significant level.