The former mayor of Palermo, twinned with Montpellier, has been president of Cinemed since 2019.
Deep voice, lively words almost always accompanied by hands that seem to be trying to grasp the interlocutor. Leoluca Orlando, four-time mayor of Palermo, has been wearing the Cinemed president’s hat since 2019. But does not depart from a very political look. “There is a climate change currently in Italy with the election of Giorgia Meloni (leader of the far-right and national conservative Brothers of Italy party, editor’s note). What will happen for the rights of minorities But, rather than criticizing the democratic choice, it is better to question yourself to understand why they were elected.”
The tribute to Letizia Battaglia
Still, even at Cinemed Leoluca Orlando always evokes with passion his city of Palermo. The screening of the film, in two parts, “Letizia Battaglia, turning life and death in Palermo” last Saturday in Rabelais, then this beginning of the week at the Corum, gives him the opportunity to remember an extraordinary woman. who was a press photographer
then one of her assistants at the town hall.
“These photos are a hymn to life even if many represent victims murdered in the 1970s and 1980s. Her experience of the city of Palermo, which joins mine, ultimately owes a lot to the mafia. We must thank her because her violence was so strong that it forced us, collectively, to react.”
Four terms as mayor of Palermo
President of Cinemed since 2019 Leoluca Orlando was elected mayor of Palermo four times: from 1985 to 1990, from 1993 to 2000, then from 2012 to 2022. During his first mandate he launched a fight against the mafia – which will earn him a national visibility in Italy – while working for the cultural development and the rehabilitation of the historic center of his city. Beaten in the regional election of Sicily in 2000, he was re-elected mayor of Palermo from 2012 to 2022, years during which he created a local council for migrants.
Festival spectator, Leoluca Orlando recounts his meeting with a spectator. “We were talking, while walking, about the film we had just seen. It was very late. This old gentleman was complaining about the insecurity of cyclists. This made me smile. I told him to come to Rome for example …”
“Life is beautiful because it is varied”
The former city councilor from Palermo, who developed an artistic offer from his first mandate in 1985, carefully observes Montpellier’s candidacy for European Capital of Culture in 2028. “This is a wonderful opportunity for Montpellier to become aware of its identity. And I think it is above all the path of this candidacy that counts. Citizens must rediscover the cultural riches of their city, be proud of it.”
Exhibition of photos by Letizia Battaglia to see in the hall of the Center Rabelais during Cinemed.