On the 30th anniversary of James Ivory’s adaptation of E.M. Forster’s novel A Room with a View, New York University Florence together with the Comune di Firenze, FST Fondazione Sistema Toscana, and the British Institute Florence, will be hosting a series of events. This anniversary also coincides with the 110th anniversary of the first edition of E. M. Forster’s novel.

Villa La Pietra will have on a temporary display three of Hortense Mitchell Acton’s evening Callot Soeurs gowns dating from 1907 to 1912, visible through October 31, 2017.

 

Two talks on a Room with a View

Wednesday, October 4 at 18:00 PM

Freedom and Oppression in E. M. Forster’s A Room with a View
Dorothea Barrett

“A Garden” with a View: Hortense Mitchell Acton and her Taste in Fashion
Francesca Baldry

Visit the event page for additional information.

 

30th Anniversary Screening: A Room with a View

Thursday, October 5th at 20.30 PM

Screening of the restored film with director James Ivory and actors Julian Sands and Helena Bonham Carter in attendance.
Cinema Odeon Firenze – Information and Tickets

 

A Meeting with James Ivory, Helena Bonham Carter and Julian Sands (NYU Students)

Friday, October 6th at 11:00 AM

NYU students are warmly invited to a special opportunity to meet with acclaimed film director James Ivory and actors Helena Bonham Carter and Julian Sands. As spaces are limited, please RSVP here.

James Ivory is a multi award winning film director, producer of close to 40 films, and co-founder of Merchant Ivory Productions. In 1985A Room with a View, based on the E.M. Forster novel, was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won three, for screen-writer Jhabvala’s adaptation of Forster’s novel as well as for Best Costume and Best Production Design. Other films produced by Merchant Ivory Productions include MauriceHowards End and The Remains of the Day

Helena Bonham Carter is an actress of great versatility, one of the UK’s finest and most successful. Some of her most notable performances include David Fincher’s Fight Club, Kenneth Branagh’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Tim Burton’s remake of Planet of the Apes, and JK Rowling’s Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter film series.

Julian Sands is an English actor known for his roles in films such as The Killing Fields, A Room with a View, Warlock, Arachnophobia, and Vatel. He was cast as the romantic lead in the 1985 film A Room with a View and his successful career in Hollywood has included the title role in the horror film Warlock and prominent roles in Arachnophobia, Boxing Helena, and Leaving Las Vegas (1995) and many television series including Stargate, The L Word, Smallville and 24.

A Garden with a View

One of the main features of Villa La Pietra is still today the strong bond between the house, the art collection with its six thousand objects, the symmetrical garden, perceived as a natural extension of the house, and the Tuscan landscape which surrounds it.

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Audio Walking Tour

This podcast will take you through the historic center of the city—declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982—following an itinerary loosely based on the events narrated in E.M. Forster’s novel A Room with a View. Beginning in Piazza San Marco and finishing in Piazza della Repubblica, the entire tour should take between an hour and a half and two hours to complete. Along the way you will learn more about the city’s history, in particular the rich array of artistic and architectural monuments that have made Florence the capital of Renaissance culture.

Credits

Project Organizers

David Travis – Lisa Cesarani – Nicole Cuddeback – Scott Palmer

Contributors

Dorothea Barrett – Margherita Ciacci – Matteo Duni – Charles Ewell – Alta Macadam – Mauro Mussolin – Matteo Sansone – Jane Zaloga