On one hand, II Cinema Ritrovato is certainly a different type of festival, as is likewise different the event from which it springs out, Mostra Internazionale del Cinema Libero. It is different because it looks at the past, thus trying to bring to life again works which otherwise would have been forgotten. On the other hand, however, Il Cinema Ritrovato is not so different from any traditional festival whose programme includes films running the risks of never been screened (in Italy, almost all of them, except for big American productions). Il Cinema Ritrovato as well does make a selection, by picking from the mass of the non visible, but differently from the great majority of festivals it does operate only in the realm of the past, thus offering audiences food for thought, suggestions, ideas for an interpretation of cinema (alongside its history), and trying to stimulate, design or further analyse research studies or, more simply, offering back to audien- ces the pleasure of finding again films that otherwise would have been gone and forgotten.