The Cinema Teatro Maffei is a historical place in the city, where the first stable company of Italian avanspettacolo was born. Over the years, the space became a red-light cinema, until it closed in 2019. From a place of show and entertainment to a cinema for adults, the Maffei has represented for decades a place of exploitation of women and commodification of their bodies.
Today, the Cinema Teatro Maffei Association wants to reopen the space and convert it into an innovative and inclusive cultural hub, open to all citizens of all ages, genders and backgrounds, overturning this narrative and transforming the Maffei into a place for in-depth study and dissemination of gender issues.
The intervention of the association Cinema Teatro Maffei Aps will involve the cultural (film, performance and music), educational (media education) and social, with a focus on gender issues.
The project is aimed at citizens of all ages interested in culture (cinema, literature, performing arts), identifying in this target more specific segments such as:
- students from 7 to 18 years old from schools in the city area
- citizens in the age group 35-70 interested in activities related to cinema and literature
- young people from 20 years old interested in performing arts and in the possibility of using the space as a study room
- workers in the 30-40 age group looking for co-working spaces
- users of counters offered by local associations
The Association has moved, since the early months of its establishment, towards the construction of a network of partners in the area interested in transferring part of their activities at the Maffei space and to undertake a path of co-design in the cultural and social field. At the moment the activated partnerships involve: Babelica APS, Casa del Quartiere di San Salvario, Associazione Cerchio degli Uomini, Nonunadimeno. In addition, the association belongs to the network Arci and Ucca (Unione Circoli Cinematografici Arci).
