Once Upon a Time in the West
The By popular demand screenings allow us to respond to special requests from you, our audience! Whether it's a film from a retrospective you want to see again, or a work you want to draw our attention to, we are open to all suggestions. The programming team collects suggestions from the public and responds to them whenever possible.
In the American West, various stories intertwine. A mysterious harmonica player wants to settle a score, while the construction of the railroad requires the expropriation of farmers, which doesn't go smoothly.
Sergio Leone
Born in Rome in 1929, Sergio Leone was the son actress Bice Waleran and filmmaker Roberto Roberti, whose career was cut short by his opposition to fascism. Sergio attended the same school as Ennio Morricone, who was to compose the music for his future films. After the Second World War, he began his career as an assistant to Italian (Vittorio de Sica among others) and American filmmakers (Robert Wise, William Wyler...). Then Leone had the idea of turning to the Western, which he completely revisited, moving away from the American Western in decline at the time. In 1964, A Fistful of Dollars marked the beginning of a style and codes that would come to define the Italian Western, a genre that enjoyed immense success in the decade that followed, with Leone as its figurehead. In 1984, he signed his last masterpiece, Once Upon a Time in America, this time exploring the world of American gangsterism.
