64 Italian intellectuals demand resignation of Rome culture councillor over Cinema America dispute

A controversy has erupted in Rome over the Cinema America outdoor cinema in Trastevere, which has been operating without a public tender. The city's Five Star Movement administration decided to regularize the situation by requiring a tender for 2018, a move the cinema's operators opposed. A Five Star councillor, Gemma Guerrini, posted a Facebook message criticizing the cinema, calling the practice of rewatching old films 'fetishistic' and suggesting it benefits the Democratic Party. This led 64 prominent Italian filmmakers and intellectuals, including Paolo Virzì, Paolo Sorrentino, Dario Argento, and the Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera, to demand the resignation of culture councillor Luca Bergamo, even though he was not responsible for Guerrini's remarks. The article argues that the intellectuals should instead criticize Bergamo for other issues, such as his handling of the MACRO museum, and that the Cinema America operators have received undue political and media protection.