The passion for cinema and the militancy of a life in the left, from the PCI to the Communist Refoundation, came together in the last farewell in the Campidoglio, with the funeral home and the secular ceremony, for Francesco Citto Maselli, the great director who died on 21 last March at 92 years old.
In the hall of the Protomoteca, on the coffin, welcomed upon its arrival by the mayor of Rome Roberto Gualtieri together with the widow of the filmmaker Stefania Brai and the secretary of Rifondazione Maurizio Acerbo, a cushion of red roses with the simple inscription 'Stefania' and the red flag of Rifondazione, along with a photo of the smiling director.
Next to it another image of Maselli with a clenched fist: for him the picket of the members of the PNA, with the tricolor handkerchief around his neck, and of the militants of the Rifondazione was for him throughout the morning.
Among others, Giuseppe Tornatore, Marco Bellocchio with his wife Francesca Calvelli, Paolo Taviani, Fausto Bertinotti, Valeria Golino, Luciana Castellina, Furio Colombo, Ricky Tognazzi, Gillo Pontecorvo's widow, Picci Pontecorvo, arrived to pay homage to the director. with whom Stefania Brai embraced in a long embrace, Andrea Purgatori, Eleonora Forenza, Vincenzo Vita, Valentina Carnelutti, Daniele Vicari, Nichi Vendola, Giovanni Russo Spena, the president of the Anpi Gianfranco Pagliarulo, the president of the Venice Biennale Roberto Cicutto and Giorgio Gosetti who lead the Venice Days section on the Lido, created in 2004 by the director of Storia d'amore.
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Valeria Golino, I owe everything to Citto Maselli - Lifestyle
"Maselli was a great director, an intellectual, protagonist of an extraordinary season of Italian cinema and culture. We pay tribute to him for his value as an artist and his social and civil commitment" says the mayor of Rome
Gualtieri
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"Citto was a special man, a friend who will be missed, because he always knew how to be ready to deal with what was important happening around us - Tornatore underlines -. He had a sort of sensor, the ability to warn us about the dangers of our life".
Bellocchio has always admired Maselli "for his rigor - he explains -. We will no longer be able to enjoy the story as he knew how to tell it".
"A clear and generous voice like his - says the councilor for culture of Rome Capital Miguel Gotor at the opening of the secular ceremony - a protagonist of Italian culture and life will be missed".
Among the messages, those of Aldo Tortorella and Ken Loach, according to whom "Citto will forever be remembered with gratitude and affection by all those who were able to see his films and by those who admired and shared his principles".
Maselli "taught me to think with open-mindedness, the importance and awareness of choices, to be curious about everything" says Valeria Golino.