The real-life projectionist who provided the inspiration for classic Oscar-winning Italian drama Cinema Paradiso has died at the age of 86.
Mimmo Pintacuda's rich and cultured life provided the template for the iconic figure of Alfredo in Giuseppe Tornatore's 1988 film. He died on Friday night at his home in Aspra, a small village near Palermo in Sicily.
Pintacuda taught Tornatore how to use a film projector when the film-maker was still a child, just as Alfredo teaches young Salvatore (who he nicknames Toto) all the secrets of film and light in Cinema Paradiso. The late projectionist worked for years at the "Cinema Vittorio" in Bagheria, Tornatore's home town.
"When people ask me if I am the real Alfredo I can say 'yes'," said Pintacuda in interviews. "I remember Tornatore very well. He was as curious and proactive as Toto; he wanted to find out everything he could about photography and cinema. I was happy to teach him all I knew and, once, I gave him a camera as a present."
Pintacuda kept an album containing photographs of the young Tornatore at his home. He was a very well-known photographer with a famous interest in the lives of Italian emigrants to the US. His entire collection of 13,000 photographs on the subject is kept at the Fratelli Alinari archive in Florence. Pintacuda published several books about photography, and transmitted his passion for film not only to Tornatore but also to his son Paolo, a screenwriter.
The funeral service was due to be held this morning at the main church in Bagheria. As in Cinema Paradiso, Tornatore will return to Sicily in order to say goodbye to his teacher and friend. The Oscar-winning film-maker, 57, is currently working abroad but was due to visit Pintacuda's family privately yesterday afternoon before returning home last night.
Though initially a failure at the Italian box office, Cinema Paradiso was later released to huge success overseas in a shortened cut. It won the Oscar for best foreign film in 1989 and is often credited with breathing new life into the Italian film industry.
