19th WEEK OF ITALIAN LANGUAGE IN THE WORLD
For the closing event of this year’s Settimana della Lingua Italiana, please join the Embassy of Italy, the Italian Cultural Institute and the Embassy of Switzerland to the United States for a special screening of Tosca’s Kiss by Daniel Schimd, restored to its full glory for Dustin Hoffman by the Cinémathèque Suisse on the occasion of the film’s 30th anniversary.
Meet the inhabitants of “Casa Verdi” in Milan, the world’s first nursing home for retired opera singers, founded by composer Giuseppe Verdi in 1896. In his documentary film Tosca’s Kiss, which has developed an underground cult following over the years and is a favorite among opera and music lovers worldwide, Swiss director Daniel Schmid has captured a world in which these wonderful singers (many of whom had significant careers on the opera stage) re-live and re-enact their triumphant roles of the glorious past.
Tosca’s Kiss is a touching and often hilarious film on the subject of aging and the power and timeless capacity of music to inspire. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion.
This program is organized under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic in collaboration with the Embassy of Switzerland to the United States as part of the 19th Week of Italian Language in the World, an event promoted yearly by the Italian diplomatic and cultural network to foster the diffusion of the Italian language in the world.
Director: Daniel Schmid
Italy/Switzerland 2014, 87 min
Film in Italian with English Subtitles
in collaboration with
LOCATION
Embassy of Italy
3000 Whitehaven Street NW
Washington, DC 20008
REGISTRATION & PHOTO ID REQUIRED
DOORS OPEN 30 MINUTES PRIOR EVENT START-TIME
Due to new safety regulations, we are not allowed to add extra seats to the auditorium or let anyone stand. A registration is not a guarantee of a seat as these are assigned on a first-come first-served basis. Doors close at event start-time.
Once the event is full we will not accept wait list requests. A limited number of “last call” registrations will be available on Eventbrite between 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM on the day of the event.
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PREVIEW (via Vimeo)
DANIEL SCHMID
Daniel Schmid was born to a family of hotel proprietors on 26th December 26, 1941 in the small Grisons town of Flims. In the sixties he studied at the Free University Berlin and attended the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin. He worked together with Peter Lilienthal, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Werner Schroeter. During this period (1971-1980), he also worked as an actor. From 1970 to 2004, Schmid made 15 films, and from 1984 he directed seven operas at the Zurich Opera House and the Grand Théâtre Geneva. In 1999, he was awarded an Honorary Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival. Due to ill health, he was forced to discontinue shooting his last film. Daniel Schmid died of cancer in August 2006