You don’t merely grow up watching the movies but living vicariously through them. Legendary Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore’s Oscar-winning film ‘Cinema Paradiso’ (1988) exuded this sentiment, working as the most heartening love letter to cinema.

The coming-of-age dramedy as seen through the eyes of a young boy Toto and his heartwarming friendship with an ageing projectionist Alfredo, reflects upon cinema not only shaping but defining our life journey – childhood, friendship, nostalgia, first love, loss and longing. It was thus fitting for Tornatore in his maiden visit to India, an initiative of filmmaker, archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur’s ‘Film Heritage Foundation’ to felicitate the movie industry’s unsung heroes - the projectionists. The three-day festival, which culminates today, showcased restored Italian classics. In an exclusive chat, Tornatore, accompanied by Dungarpur, shared his thoughts about India, Indian cinema, the longevity of his iconic movie and more. Excerpts…

You are too generous. It's a big mystery to me that 40 years after its making, it continues to be so popular and close to the people in every country. I introduced it as the opening film of the festival here. People of every age call me, write to me about this movie even today. Yes, the movie is autobiographical in some parts. But not all autobiographical movies receive this kind of love, affection. It probably worked because the movie theatre is a space where generations of people grow up and see their lives unfold. Probably there was a certain honesty to it that touched people's hearts.

I agree with him. Yesterday I was walking down the street in the city with the crowd, and I immediately felt some familiarity. I asked myself why I felt this connection with this place, these people .Life in the streets of Mumbai, the pace, vibe here reminded me of the first big town I knew of back home when I was young -- Palermo in Sicily. Until six years ago, Palermo was the same… the sound, chaos, screaming, shops, street food, colours, fruit sellers. It was a very strong experience yesterday and I hope to spend some more time here before I leave.

I’ll confess a secret to you. Initially, I thought movies were made in the cinema projection room. The concept of screening was not known to me. I started to go to a movie theatre like this (points to Mumbai’s Regal Cinema) when I was six. I didn’t understand how it was possible that the characters that looked so huge on the big screen managed to get there from the small window of the theatre at the back. For a long time, I believed that the shadow of this man (the projectionist) was the maker of the movie. I thought movies were made in the projection room. When I had the opportunity to check out that room, the projectionist seemed like a legend to me. I figured the movies were not made there, but the idea that I had of it before decoding the real situation stayed with me. I met other projectionists and became one when I was nine. That was my world. So, I’m very happy to have felicitated the projectionists here because it felt like I gave an award to all the projectionists that I met when I was young.

I feel what binds Indian and Italian cinema is realism. There’s a lot of fantasy in both, but the soul and origin of this poetic cinematography in both cinemas are realistic. Satyajit Ray was the first big director I knew of when I was young. About a year ago I watched a movie, (Pan Nalin’s) 'Last Film Show', which I believe was inspired by Cinema Paradiso. The film was India’s official Oscar entry, (didn't win a nomination) so it was a big honour for him and for me. I have also watched some clips of commercial Bollywood movies, and I am curious about this world. Shivendra (Dungarpur) has promised me that he will take me to the shoot of these big Bollywood movies someday. I am pleasantly shocked by the number of movies India produces each year. The Indian film industry is one of the largest in the world. A country where around 2,000 movies are produced every year is a paradise for me.

Tornatore: People connect with each other through movies. Even politically, they are important because art transcends borders. Movies are not restricted by any language anymore. Shivendra and people like him are working to preserve and restore big movies that are part of the history of humanity. Be it the work of Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, John Huston, or Alfred Hitchcock, to name a few. In the future, if people will have the opportunity to see these iconic movies, it’s thanks to Shivendra and all the people who work for this cause. They are important. They give eternal life to movies.

Shivendra: It's an unbelievable feeling to have him here, because to me, his film (Cinema Paradiso) embodies our collective love for cinema. His film represented all that I went through as a child. I was the Toto of his film. I continue to be Toto because my life is about showing films. We show films to people for free. It is probably the most emotional moment for me. That not only he's come here as a director, as an artist, but somebody who's kept cinema alive. And the fact that he started his career as a projectionist. He was a photographer, then he became a projectionist, and he honoured our projectionists. It's the most beautiful thing to have happened to cinema.

Shivendra: From my point of view, we’ve kept cinema alive. Going by the number of people who have come for us (at this festival), it shows that basically, classic films are back. Today, look at the number of classics being re-released in multiplexes. All that has happened because of Film Heritage Foundation’s initiative to bring back classics into theatres. Also, the fact that we are keeping single screens alive is great. Over 1800 people registered for this Italian festival. These films are available online, yet people thronged to the theatres for that experience.

Tornartore: People watch more movies today than they did 50 years ago. Thanks to the technology that gives you the opportunity to watch movies wherever you want and whenever you want. Okay. I don't like my daughter watching movies on her phone. But I would prefer her watching the movie on her phone instead of not watching the movie at all. People need movies. Movies never die. Maybe the traditional movie business is anachronistic, but that will change and they will find a new way to go ahead because today, the financing of a movie is crazy complicated. When the technology of movies change, we can produce movies in a simpler way than the past. But one thing I am sure of. In this world, people will always have the necessity to watch movies. So we have to make movies. Even if we don't want to, we’ll have to make movies. (laughs).

They say movie magic unfolds on the big screen, but Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore reminded us that there’s as much wonder behind the rectangular hole of the projection room with his 1988 film ‘Cinema Paradiso’ on the bittersweet nostalgia of old movie houses and the friendship between a boy and a projectionist. So, who better to honour these unsung heroes of cinema than the Oscar-winning director who was once a projectionist himself? On a rainy Friday morning in Mumbai, ahead of awarding two Indian projectionists as part of Film Heritage Foundation’s (FHF) festival, ‘Cinema Italian Style—Celebrating Tornatore and the Masters of Italian Cinema’, the 68-year-old director spoke to TOI about the lasting legacy of Cinema Paradiso, urgent need to preserve the theatres of yore and his unexpected enthusiasm for AI.

Yes, this is my first time in India, thanks to Shivendra (Dungarpur, founder of FHF) and the Film Heritage Foundation event. I arrived two days ago and had some time to explore. The city has a familiar atmosphere—some streets and the people remind me of Palermo when I was very young, around five or six. The crowd, the attitude—they’re so polite and open. I’ve taken many pictures. The only thing I don’t love is the sound of the klaxons (Italian for car horns) going pom-pom, pom-pom! (Laughs)

It’s a short trip, but I’m very happy to be here. I’ve received invitations to India for years but never had the chance until now. I’m very fascinated by the culture and the people—not just from a tourist’s perspective.

The last Indian movie I watched was one year ago, ‘The Last Film Show’ (Chello Show) by Pan Nalin that was inspired by Cinema Paradiso and represented India at the Academy Awards. I really liked it. For me, though, the most important filmmaker from India is Satyajit Ray. In many of his movies, I felt an original point of view— an authenticity about his world. Some aspects remind me of our Italian Neorealism. I love that kind of cinema. But I’m not familiar with the new Indian movies. I’ve never seen a Bollywood film. I would like to, but in Italy, we don’t have any distributors that bring those movies to us. We hear about them with great curiosity. I’m told many people here know some of my films— that’s a privilege and a great honour.

It’s a mystery. I don’t know why this movie, made little by little, is still so loved after 36 years. Maybe it’s the shared experience of generations going to the cinema—something universal. The story is simple, about the end of a small village cinema. Maybe that touched the emotions of everyone who loves cinema. There’s no other explanation. It’s a normal movie, nothing particularly special, yet people love it. After almost 40 years, I’m still busy with interviews and introducing it at big events—more than when it first came out. (Laughs) It’s very unusual!

Yes, that’s why I say it’s a mystery. Some people tell me they watched ‘Cinema Paradiso’ again and cried— even their children love it. Young generations have an immediate, strong emotional connection with the movie. It’s one of those mysteries that only movies can give us.

First, I have to say I envy your country because you still have many movie theatres. In Italy and much of Europe, theatres aren’t as numerous as they were 20 years ago. It’s crucial to preserve these special spaces. The biggest mistake theatre owners made was they built a cinema and then forgot about it for years, not keeping up with modern comforts and technology. So people prefer their plasma screens and surround sound at home. This is a big issue in Europe, too. Theatres with uncomfortable seats or poor lighting get forgotten. But when people enter a beautiful, well-maintained cinema, they return. In Rome, there aren’t many theatres left, but the few that are well-kept do very well. Take Gian Luca Farinelli who has rebuilt a historic theatre (Modernissimo Cinema) in Bologna. Today, with technology changing so rapidly, you must offer the best quality to keep people coming back.

Yes, exactly. When I made Cinema Paradiso, Italy was experiencing a crisis with movie theatres. Many were closing every day. I had been living in Rome for many years, but when I would return to my village to visit my family, I noticed that all the cinemas were going. It was a shock, really traumatic for me. As a child, there were seven movie theatres in my village, but by the time I was 25, none were left. I wanted to capture that, to show the world what life in the cinema was like, especially at a time when people were beginning to forget that experience. The emotional instinct behind Cinema Paradiso was a deep nostalgia for that world—the energy of the theatres, with children screaming, people laughing, everyone knowing each other. In a village, you know everyone, and to have 200, 300 people in one room, all watching the same story—it’s a special feeling. That energy has been slowly disappearing, and I wanted to preserve it.

Many young people don’t know what life in a movie theatre was like. Many of them don’t even go to the cinema. They love movies, of course, but often they watch at home or on their phones. They don’t have that communal experience. It’s important to show them what they’re missing. But this isn’t a new phenomenon. When I shot Cinema Paradiso, there were no cinemas left in the village where we filmed. The young boy who played the lead didn’t know what a movie theatre was. While we were building the set, he and his friends were curious, asking, “What is this?” One Sunday, I organized a free screening of E.T. for the village kids, but nobody came. When I asked the boy why, he said, “We’ve already seen it on television.” So this decline in cinema attendance has been happening for a long time. We need to stop losing this experience from our culture. We need to educate young people to participate in this special way of watching stories, in that silent communication that only happens in a movie theatre, with others.

Artificial intelligence! A few months ago, they did an experiment where they described a scene in just three lines—a young girl walking in Tokyo, her attitude, the way she looked around—and the computer, using AI, created the shot without any filming. Incredible.

Yes! In the future, I might not need a producer or crew. I could write a story and create the film without a budget or losing time. Making a movie has always been hard and time-consuming. Spending years trying to find people who love the project as much as you isn’t easy. The idea of making a film without those obstacles sounds wonderful!

I know, I know. This technology is both amazing and dangerous. But making movies has always been difficult, so the possibility of making a film without hurdles, it’s exciting. Another thing I love is the experiment with virtual reality, this immersive experience. A few months ago in San Francisco, I tried a VR headset and it was unbelievable — the new way to tell stories through images. So when people ask me if cinema is dying, I tell them, no, we’re not at the end of movies, we’re at the beginning. Entering a world with endless possibilities for evolving the language of cinema. Cinema will never die.

Much has been said since the Gujarati film Chhello Show (The Last Film Show) by Pan Nalin was chosen as India’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film category of the 95th Academy Awards. The Indian Film & Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA) and Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) has demanded the film’s selection for the Oscars be reversed and alleged that it is a rip-off of the 1988 Oscar-winning film Cinema Paradiso. This is in addition to fans being furious that it was picked over RRR. The director has stated that he is “disappointed by his industry peers’ lack of support”.

I was disheartened. We have done zero lobbying. Many people think whatever is most popular is going to get an Oscar. If they Googled, they would know what the trend is in terms of international films. I knew other fellow filmmakers from other countries, where they were being celebrated and preparing to go for Oscars, and meanwhile, we were dealing with this backlash.

I wondered how it came about. My cinematographer is from Maharashtra, chief assistant director is from Himachal Pradesh, others are from Kerala, Mumbai and Gujarat, etc. Maybe it was misinterpreted because we have a foreign sales agent.

I guess if anyone decides to make a film about their love for cinema, it might look like Cinema Paradiso, but there will be many other things to it. I request people to watch the film before coming to a conclusion.

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Producer of the film, Sidharth Roy Kapur, has reacted to the allegations levelled by FWICE, “I think we should look at the future since we’re representing India now and we’ve been selected by the Film Federation of India (FFI). We’re honoured and privileged to be given the responsibility to represent our country. Film is such a subjective medium, and everyone will have an opinion on it, nothing is black or white. There’s a jury that was put together and they selected us. We will do our best to bring glory to the country, that’s where I’d like to leave it. It is a free country and everyone is entitled to an opinion,” he told The Indian Express.

India’s official entry to the Oscars this year, Chhello Show is mired in controversy. After FWICE claimed that the film that released in English is produced by foreign studios and is not an Indian film, the Gujarati film was tagged as a copy of Cinema Paradiso (1988).

The director of Chhello Show, Pan Nalin, reacted on Twitter. “Copy? Homage? Inspiration? Original? Find out yourself on 14.10.2022 in cinemas near you. Power to the people, let them decide,” he wrote.

Another controversy is about it not being an Indian film. The Film Federation of India (FFI) that selected the film reacted to the same. FFI president T P Aggarwal told Indian Express, “I can’t say anything about that, I am not sure about it.” He added, “I had asked the jury members, they have seen the picture so many times and they said no (it is not a copy). Not a single scene is similar in the film. It can be inspired by that (Cinema Paradiso), but it is not a copy.”