Movies - Jan. 2, 1990

Italian Film to Benefit AFI: “Cinema Paradiso,” the Italian entry for the best foreign-language film Oscar and winner of a Special Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, will premiere Jan. 31 at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall as a benefit for the American Film Institute’s National Center for Film and Video. The organization, co-chaired by director Martin Scorsese, is dedicated to the restoration and preservation of important motion pictures as historical documents. The film’s director, Giuseppe Tornattore, and producer, Franco Cristaldi, will attend the benefit. Set in a small Sicilian village caught at the brink between age-old tradition and modern technology, “Cinema Paradiso” follows the remembrances of Salvatorre di Vitto, who after the death of his projectionist friend and mentor returns to the movie theater where his lifelong passion with film began. The film begins its New York and Los Angeles engagements Feb. 2.