The most unusual (and daring) film to be launched this season in Italian cinemas is "Il Primo Re" (the First King). It tells the story of Romulus and Remus, the mythical twins accredited with the foundation of Rome. These figures, portrayed by ancient Roman writers as super heroes, appear in the film in a more realistic version of leaders of a primitive tribe of rapacious nomads living two thousand seven hundred years ago.

However, director Matteo Rovere takes realism a stage further by having his characters speak in Ancient Latin. This courageous decision has resulted in a new upsurge of interest in the few inscriptions that remain containing the long-forgotten language. The most famous of these are the fibula prenestina (the Palestrina Brooch) and the Capena Vase, both dating back to approximately the VI century BC. In the Roman Forum there is the inscription on the Lapis Niger (Black Stone) traditionally believed to mark the burial place of Romulus, dated to 575 BC.

Contemporarily with the film's launch, the Pigorini National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnology of Rome has launched a new exhibition focalizing on finds from the period.

"Il Primo Re" trailer on youtube

Info: Museo Nazionale Pigorini: Tel. +39.06.549521 -  www.pigorini.beneculturali.it