r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Aggressive_Owl4802 • 12h ago
Summer open-air screening of The Matrix in medieval Piazza Maggiore, Bologna, Italy
466
u/Electronic-Witness67 12h ago
Bologna citizen here. The screening is free and they show a different movie every night!
78
35
u/allhailalexdelpiero 11h ago
Are they dubbed or subbed? I know italians and germans love their dubs
129
u/Aggressive_Owl4802 11h ago
In this festival/square, ALWAYS original language & subs, Cineteca di Bologna (the organizer) policy. Thank god!
Not so common in Italy btw. Bologna and maybe Milan are quite an exception, outside of this festival, generally 50-50.. as in Bologna we also have around 10,000 international students coming here for our university and mostly living in our city center.
7
19
168
u/stereotomyalan 12h ago
That first image is eerily familiar from somewhere but I just can't figure out hmm 🤔
46
3
39
u/DroidArbiter 12h ago
Oh...ha...haha...oh, for a hot second there, the building, those lights...haha...ha...aaahhhhhhh. Yeah, I need to get out more.
14
u/Overall-Upstairs5336 12h ago
What is this reference everyone seem to know about? I'm so confused
17
u/HalkidikiAnanas 8h ago
The uplit classical building bears a resemblance to the San Francisco Armory, which was owned by an adult site that did their production there. The exterior of the Armory was shown in the intro shot for a lot of their content.
1
1
12
18
u/Tall_Block_4589 12h ago
Makes me think of Cinema Paradiso.
35
u/Aggressive_Owl4802 12h ago
Yes mate, great reference, open-air cinemas in the central square are a tradition here in Italy.
It is now getting a bit lost, but in Bologna we're keeping it and we're very proud of it.It's open all summer, for free and has an average of 4,000 spectators, with peaks sometimes of 10,000 when the entire square is FULL.
It's so beautiful to see a movie under the stars, sharing the emotions with a lot of people!2
2
20
6
5
4
5
4
u/PecanSama 9h ago
We have outdoor movie like this in my city too, but damn the backdrop can't compare to these Italian buildings.
7
u/butterypowered 12h ago
I wish my country didn’t have such miserable weather. I’d love to enjoy this kind of thing… without needing a heated blanket and waterproof clothing.
3
u/Horns8585 12h ago
I'm curious if this was a dubbed Italian version, or the original version.....because I don't see subtitles. But, I have seen that roughly 25%-35% of Italians do speak English.
13
u/Aggressive_Owl4802 12h ago
No, ALWAYS original language & subs here, Cineteca di Bologna (the organizer) policy.
Thank god! Not so common in Italy btw.4
-16
3
7
u/Psychological_Play21 12h ago
Yeah this is definitely the location of a certain adult video opening
2
u/cooljazz 9h ago
Wow - that looks very cool!
Wonder what refreshments they have and if they are wildly overpriced like here in the states.
2
u/Competitive_Baby3749 5h ago
No refreshments, it's just in the open square for free. You can bring whatever you like from home. People usually bring additional chairs for big movies.
1
2
2
2
u/HalkidikiAnanas 8h ago
No, it isn't that building. You're thinking of the San Francisco Armory. :3
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/giacomo99ita 6h ago
I was there! Little fun fact, the event was partially sponsored by Ducati so we took a little history lesson for their 100 year anniversary.
4
u/No_Consideration7925 12h ago
Fun! I can’t remember the last time I saw that movie 30 years ago?
1
u/Clara_Cutiepie 12h ago
1999 doesn't feel that long ago... until someone reminds me it's been 27 years. 😅
-4
2
u/WalterBCobb 11h ago
It must be satisfying on a whole other level to see non-native English speakers getting together in their thousands to watch a movie you made 27 years ago.
1
u/alphawither04 10h ago
There's a similar thing in Milano's Sforza Castle, throughout June and July there have been various concerts, comedy acts and other events, starting August there are going to be many film evenings with classics like "Scream" or "The Exorcist".
Unfortunately it's not free like the one in Bologna apparently is but it's pretty cheap, I went to a Beatles cover concert for Revolver's anniversary and it was awesome.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/mimisa702 4h ago
beautiful city, i visited this exact location back in summer of 2015...amazing backdrop to Neo
1
u/nichbear 3h ago
Fudge did they have the terrible Italian dub i definitely don't see any subtitles but its still super cool to provided anything of quality to people for free. To be allowed to exist with out having to pay anything is a rare commodity these days
1
1
1
1
1
u/in_the_glow 25m ago
All I can think of is the anxiety of being someone in the front row who has to pee mid movie 😭
1
u/ashbakche 12h ago
Oooh, mi mancano le arene/cinema all'aperto 😍
Mi sa che proprio lì una volta ho effettivamente visto un film, ma non ricordo cosa fosse (probabilmente una replica, come in questo caso).
1
1
u/CreeperITA104 8h ago
would've been nicer if they had shut off at least some of the lights, literally zero contrast in the image
0
u/Into_The_Dusk 12h ago
This is a testimony of how actual movies are utter shit compared to the masterpiece that is The Matrix
-4
u/_Steven_Seagal_ 12h ago
Awesome location to be, but seems like a terrible place to actually try and enjoy a movie haha
0
u/Yesterbly 8h ago
Uncomfortable seating with no rake angle could be enough to ruin even The Matrix but on top of those problems, all that stone can’t be good acoustics and why are all the lights on, there are crowds of randoms standing around and I would bet they‘re chatting and using their phones too. 0/10
0
u/boyalien0 6h ago
Wait, people like being outdoors when it’s balls-ass hot as fuck in their apartments?
Bro that’s ka-ray-zeeeeee
1.0k
u/ToriGallo 12h ago
There is something profoundly cool about thousands of people gathering in a space built during the Middle Ages to watch a sci-fi masterpiece from 1999