Benigni, Sorrentino appeal for cinema

(ANSA) - Rome, February 2 - Oscar winners from the world of Italian cinema are among a group of directors and actors who have joined in support of the "Cinema America Kids", an organization that holds a summer open-air cinema event in Rome's Piazza San Cosimato, that the city has announced it intends to put out for tender as part of its "Estate Romana" summer events programme.
    Important figures from the world of Italian cinema including Bernardo Bertolucci, Roberto Benigni, Paolo Sorrentino, Carlo Verdone, and Nicola Piovani, among many others, signed an appeal to the city against its decision.
    "We cannot prevent ourselves from expressing total opposition to the intention announced by Rome Deputy Mayor Luca Bergamo to reduce the days of the event and to put out to tender a project created by a group of young people who are guilty only of loving, more than anything else, their city and its cinemas," the letter said. "Letting it be understood that the initiative, up to now, has been conducted illegally is an unacceptable lack of respect for the efforts of dozens of young men and women, as well as an offence to thousands of people and guests who, like us, have participated in the event," the letter said.
    The letter called on Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi to authorize the event for this summer.
    Valerio Carocci, president of the "Piccolo Cinema America" association, said the city has given the group specific conditions that make it impossible for it to hold the event this summer.
    He said the event has always been produced legally and that 90,000 people attended last summer.
    Carocci said the group won't participate in the call for tenders.