national cinema day 2026 is listed as the 5th or 6th or 7tth or 12th of september

depending on the source

in honor of the holiday

i plan to celebrate it a number of times in September

beginning with one of my all-time favorite films:

Cinema Paradiso/Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, (Italian),  is a coming of age, nostalgic, sentimental, comedy, drama, all rolled into one, written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore in 1988.

 Set in a small town in Sicily, it is also a celebration of films and comes right from the heart. Mostly told in flashback, it focuses on the friendship between a young boy, Toto((Salvatore Cascio)), and an aging projectionist, Alfredo((Philippe Noiret), who works at the town’s cinema. When Toto  begins helping out in the cinema booth, he learns to love the magic of movies and develops a passion for films that shapes his life path.

Credited with revitalizing Italy’s film industry, Cinema Paradiso has been cited by some as one of the best films of all time, and a world cinema classic. It is particularly renowned for the ending , considered among one of the greatest endings in film history. It was a commercial success, received critical acclaim, and won several awards, including theAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the Cannes Film Festival’s Grand Prix, and 5 BAFTA awards.

—

‘life isn’t like in the movies. life… it is much harder.

whatever you end up doing, love it.

the way you loved the projection booth when you were a little squirt.’

-Alfredo to Toto