- published: 29 Mar 2015
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Nuovo cinema Paradiso (Italian pronunciation: [ˈnwɔːvo ˈtʃiːnema paraˈdiːzo] New Paradise Cinema), internationally released as Cinema Paradiso, is a 1988 Italian drama film written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. The film stars Jacques Perrin, Philippe Noiret, Leopoldo Trieste, Marco Leonardi, Agnese Nano and Salvatore Cascio, and was produced by Franco Cristaldi and Giovanna Romagnoli, while the music score was composed by Ennio Morricone along with his son, Andrea.
The film exists in multiple versions. It was originally released in Italy at 155 minutes, but poor box office performance in its native country led to its being shortened to 123 minutes for international release; it was an instant success. This international version won the Special Jury Prize at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival and the 1989 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. In 2002, the director's cut 173-minute version was released (known in the U.S. as Cinema Paradiso: The New Version).
Shot in director Tornatore's hometown Bagheria, Sicily, as well as Cefalù on the Tyrrhenian Sea, and told largely in flashback of a successful film director Salvatore to his childhood years, it also tells the story of the return to his native Sicilian village for the funeral of his old friend Alfredo, who was the projectionist at the local "Cinema Paradiso". Ultimately, Alfredo serves as a wise father figure to his young friend who only wishes the best to see him succeed, even if it means breaking his heart in the process.
If the sky opened up for me
And the mountains disappeared
If the seas run dry, turn to dust
And the sun refused to rise
I would still find my way
By the light I See in your eyes
The world I know fades away but you stay
In the love that we have shared before time
If the years take away
Every memory that I have
I would still know the way
That would lead me back to your side
The North Star may die
But the light that I see in your eyes
Will burn there always
By the love we have shared before time
Once shining light will still remain
And the love we have shared before time