Cinema Ritrovato 2026 in Bologna: the films, the program, the tributes

Piazza Maggiore in Bologna

A cinephile’s paradise. This is what they call Bologna in the week of Cinema Ritrovatothe end of 40 years festival was due to period films, restored masterpieces, gems to be rediscovered and the magic of cinema of yesteryear. But you don’t need to be a critic or expert to be enchanted by the black and white classics in Piazza Maggiore, between the church of San Petronio and the Neptune fountain, or to be amazed by the silent films that come out of the imposing carbon projector in the small Piazzetta Pasolini, with live music, the sound of the film running and the beam of light like at the beginning of the twentieth century. – photo

The Hollywood of the past and a new Marilyn

This year the festival will be an extra large edition, with films and events that spill over before and after the eight days of the festival, and ranging from the sophisticated comedy of 1930s Hollywood to the risky of often unobtainable films, from Italy to Japan. And with a great focus on diving, or rather on icons. One above all, the most famous: Marilyn Monroe, is at the center of a documentary that delves into her life and her (often underestimated) artistic value starting from archive materials.

«Il Cinema Ritrovato» Festival of Bologna 2026 – Easy Living (Press office)

The flame of sin shines in Piazza Maggiore

And then Barbara Stanwick, protagonist of the festival location, during the press of the Grand Hotel Majestic and the main retrospective of this edition. Capable of moving from noir to western, from sophisticated comedy to melodrama, she wasn’t as flashy as her contemporary star aunt but she knew how to pierce the screen and break into the hearts of directors. Come Billy Wilder, see the full picture in the noir classic The Flame of Sin (1947), one of the cinema screens on display to the general public in Piazza Maggiore.

«Il Cinema Ritrovato» Festival of Bologna 2026 – Ken Russell, The Devils (Press office)

Josephine Baker diva and activist

Diva from another world was Joséphine Baker, a beautiful and lively protagonist of social life and entertainment in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s. African American, naturalized French, she was an icon of artists, a bubbly dancer and singer in cabarets and revues, but also an activist, a fighter in the French resistance and involved in the fight for civil rights. Cinema Ritrovato celebrates her with the many unpublished shots of the exhibition Joséphine Baker, diva in motion (atrium of the Renzo Renzi library at the Cineteca), with a complete filmography and some archive pearls.

«Il Cinema Ritrovato» Festival of Bologna 2026 – Wim Wenders, Summer in the city (Press office)

Visconti, Rossellini and the work of Javier Bardem

Finally, the homage to Luchino Visconti, 50 years after his death, with the restoration of masterpieces such as Senso, The Leopard, Rocco and his brothers, the latter two an occasional opportunity to see Alain Delon again at the height of his splendor, who passed away just two years ago. And then the guests, from Isabella Rossellini to Wim Wenders, from Carlo Verdone to Francesca Comencini, the first film of the year, in 1926 in first grade, with The “Matinée idols”, based on the first film of the novel by Juan Antonio Bardem (Javier Bardem’s uncle), on Northern European noir, on documentaries and much more. In all, 540 films in 9 years, and a maximum screen in the center will offer auteur films and great successes until mid-August. Strong and truly this is a cinephile’s paradise.