Cinema Paradiso

Successful filmmaker Salvatore Di Vita returns to his Sicilian hometown and remembers growing up around the Cinema Paradiso. As a boy called Totò, he befriended projectionist Alfredo, who taught him the booth's machinery and encouraged his fascination with movies.

The projection beam, spliced film, crowded audience reactions, Ennio Morricone's score, and Philippe Noiret's warm authority make the theater both workplace and social center—nostalgia is strengthened by attention to what artistic growth requires leaving behind.