On Sunday, May 3rd, the Ariston Cinema in Oristano will be transformed into a truly exceptional stage. At 5:45 pm, the theater will host a screening of "Don Quixote," Fabio Segatori 's new film, bringing Cervantes's immortal masterpiece to the big screen. And it won't be just any screening: making the event even more special will be the presence of the director himself and Fiorenzo Mattu , his co-star who lends his face and voice to the unforgettable Sancho Panza.
"This is an event that fills us with pride," says Gianfranco Ibba , director of the Ariston Cinema. "Bringing a film like this to the theater, with the directors in attendance, means offering Oristano audiences not just a film, but an experience. The movie theater should be a vibrant place, where cinema meets those who create it ."
The work, produced and distributed by Baby Films with the support of the MIC – Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual, the Calabria Film Commission, and the Lucana Film Commission, and produced in collaboration with Rai Cinema, has already received significant recognition on the national festival scene. It was presented at the 17th edition of the BIF&ST – Bari International Film & TV Festival, one of the most prestigious events in Italian cinema.
Segatori's vision is not a simple adaptation of the classic text, but a reinterpretation rooted in the present. A desert landscape, almost timeless, takes shape on the screen: a never-ending Middle Ages that bears an uncanny resemblance to our own. Don Quixote is the eternal idealist, the man who persists in dreaming in a world ruled by greed and oppression. He tilts at windmills not out of madness, but out of a stubborn faith in human dignity. Yet, at the end of his journey, even the Knight of the Sad Countenance surrenders to the bitter truth that freedom is a new experiment, one to which we have not yet become accustomed.
"The message of this film is universal and urgent," adds Ibba. "At a time when cinema risks becoming mere entertainment, these works remind us that the theater is also a place where we think, where we question ourselves . And we want to continue to be that place for our city."