Film Premiere in Florence

A 600-year-old painting leads two art conservators in Florence on a journey uncovering the city’s forgotten children and the women who saved them. The premiere of “The Innocents of Florence,” the new documentary by filmmaker Davide Battistella, will take place in Florence on May 17 at Cinema La Compagnia, followed by 6 days of further screenings. The film follows two female conservators, Nicoletta Fontani and Elizabeth Wicks, as they set out to salvage the mysterious painting Madonna of the Innocents, a restoration sponsored by Advancing Women Artist’s founder Dr. Jane Fortune. The painting was created as the banner for the Innocenti Institute in 1446 and its restoration has triggered numerous discoveries revealed in this 90-minute feature that explores art, motherhood, Florentine humanism and how a progressive-thinking Renaissance society created one of the first Children’s hospitals in the world.