About

Inferno 1911 Ages 18+

Restored for the one hundredth anniversary of its release by Cineteca di Bologna and the Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, Inferno 1911 by Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan and Giuseppe De Liguoro was the first feature-length Italian film. A huge international success, the film created visions of hell inspired notably by Gustave Doré's illustrations for Dante's Inferno. It has previously for many years only been possible to see the film on damaged or shortened prints but its marvellous staging of the first Canto of the Divine Comedy with its desolate landscapes, mythological beasts and metamorphoses has now been restored to full colour-tinted glory.

Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei (The Last Days of Pompeii) 1926 Ages 18+

Carmine Gallone and Amleto Palermi's The Last Days of Pompeii 1926 stages in sumptuous colour tinting the epic fall of the ancient city buried by Mount Vesuvius' eruption. Adapted from Edward Bulwer-Lytton's love story, the film was innovative in its special effects and an early major box-office hit. A beautiful tinted restoration print was prepared using photochemical processes by Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia-Cineteca Nazionale in the mid-1990s and the premiere screening of the restoration print was held in the amphitheatre in Pompeii, followed by a screening at the major restoration festival 'Il Cinema Ritrovato' in Bologna in 1998.

QAGOMA thanks Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia-Cineteca Nazionale for providing the restored, tinted film print.

Inferno 1911 (as well as The Last Days of Pompeii 1926) will be presented with live musical accompaniment by Mauro Colombis. Colombis is an Italian classically trained musician with international concert experience. He began to compose and improvise for silent movies, developing his own improvisation method. Since 2002 he has played internationally every year at the Le Giornate del Cinema Muto in Italy, the leading silent film festival.