Films on Dante Alighieri at Shang Plaza Nov. 10, 11

MANILA, Philippines - One of the world’s greatest poets and considered father of the Italian language, Dante Alighieri has influenced cultures, arts and popular views around the globe. This month marks the 750th anniversary of his birth, and Shangri-La Plaza partners with Societa’ Dante Alighieri Comitato di Manila and the Philippine-Italian Association to present special screenings of two major films on Dante’s life and works, namely L’Inferno and Dante.

Dramatic silent film L’Inferno will be screened on Nov. 10, 7 p.m. at Cinema 4, with the live musical scoring of Filipino rock icon Razorback. The Italian epic comes to life at the hands of director Giuseppe de Liguoro, as an imaginative film loosely adapted from Dante and inspired by the illustrations of Gustave Doré. Full of special effects, flashbacks, monsters, giants, dragons, demons and other hellish apparitions, it makes a terrific impact just as it did when it first screened at Naples’ Teatro Mercandante in March 1911.

Dante will be screened on Nov. 10 at 3 p.m., and again on Nov. 11 at 3 and 7 p.m. at the Shang Cineplex Cinema 4. Director Luca Lussoso took on the challenge of adapting Dante’s masterpiece — the Divine Comedy, to the modern-day, painting an elaborate afterlife filled with details, while innovating the ways of culture divulgation. 

(Both screenings are free and on a first-come, first-served basis. For details, call 370-2500 loc. 597 or visit www.facebook.com/shangrilaplazaofficialfanpage. Follow the Shang on Instagram: @shangrilaplazaofficial.)