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ITALY – THE MILANO CORTINA 2026 PARALYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY, SIGNED BY FILMASTER, OPENED A NEW CHAPTER IN CELEBRATIONS OF SPORT WITHOUT BARRIERS. ACCATINO: “LIFE IN MOTION, A COURAGEOUS, POSITIVE, AND ENGAGING EVENT”
On Friday, March 6, an immersive show blending art, music, and technology took place at Verona’s Arena: from the entrance of delegations accompanied by Meduza to the Paralympic flame lit by Bebe Vio, through Dardust’s performances and a choral finale to the notes of “Volare,” which transformed the Arena into a symbolic shared space, the perfect synthesis of the Games’ message: inclusion, solidarity, and participation.
In the millennial setting of Verona’s Arena, a UNESCO heritage site and universal symbol of Italian culture, the XIV edition of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games officially began.
The opening ceremony, designed and produced by Filmmaster, transformed the Roman amphitheater into a grand immersive stage for a nearly two-hour show titled Life in Motion, a homage to the historic motto of the Paralympic movement Spirit in Motion and to the value of equality in diversity.
The event generated, as Filmmaster President and artistic director of the ceremony Alfredo Accatino explained to e20express, “so many emotions and an unexpected success in the appreciation it garnered internationally. The media called it an ‘extraordinary opening ceremony.’ I would describe it with three words: courageous, positive, engaging.”
NBC, with 13-time Paralympic medalist Chris Waddell, commented: “It never loses its charm because it’s all based on anticipation and enthusiasm,” adding that “being in a place with such great historical significance is extraordinary. It conveys a sense of history, weight, and importance.” Reuters described “beautiful rhythmic performances that honored diversity and inclusion, showcasing artists with disabilities,” in a Roman amphitheater turned global stage.
Overall, foreign press recognized the show produced by Filmmaster for its ability to transform Verona’s historic amphitheater into a global stage capable of telling the universal values of the Paralympic movement with contemporary languages.
Television audience figures were also impressive. For Accatino, Rai 1’s choice to air the ceremony in prime time marked “an editorial success: 3.26 million viewers and 17% share in a challenging time slot for a Paralympic event. Especially compared to Tokyo 2020 (940,000 – 8% share), Paris 2024 (summer, Paralympics, at 8.4%). A courageous choice that for once identified Rai as a public service, and still superior to a fiction’s 14/15% figures.”
“On a production level, the challenge was to create a ceremony in the same location 10 days after the Olympic Closing, with a more contained budget, in a wartime climate. I think we passed the test,” Accatino commented, adding: “For the two ceremonies, which together developed nearly five hours of worldwide broadcast show, we worked two and a half years with 200 people from Filmmaster’s creative and production team, rising to 4,000 considering all roles including technical and setup for both ceremonies, cast, and volunteers. For this, I want to thank Fabrizio Audagnotto, Francera Robbiati, and Celina Vasquez Padilla, alongside Filmmaster CEO Antonio Abete. Then there was the fundamental work of Adriano Martella, creative director, who alongside me worked with two directors like Stefania Opipari (Olympic Closing) and Marco Boarino (Paralympic Opening), managing everything from Giò Forma’s set design to Bleared’s lighting, then Matteo Oioli and Dario Bruno for scenic structures, and so on in all creative areas.”
“With a very contained budget compared to previous editions, our strength was optimizing the same location and the extraordinary technical and organizational staff, and why not, the fact of being Italian, expert, crazy, positive,” Accatino concluded.
For the Paralympics opening ceremony, the same number of tickets were sold as for the Olympic Closing ceremony on February 22. It involved 50 dancers, 50 musicians, over 75 artists, 300 technicians, and 390 volunteers in an event broadcast worldwide, which peaked at seven million viewers on French France 2.
2026 PARALYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY
The percussions of Stewart Copeland (former Police member) together with Cornel Hrsca-Munn opened the show, kicking off a performance involving artists with and without disabilities.
Immediately after, Chiara Bersani, Italian performer, author, and choreographer, took the stage from the Arena’s center, launching a beam of light that illuminated Verona’s sky.
The scenography, inspired by Lucio Fontana’s famous slashed canvases, symbolically crossed the stage, dividing it in two: a gesture evoking the courage to open to new possibilities and, more generally, the desire to contribute to changing the world.
As Alfredo Accatino explained, “We wanted to launch the message that disability can be overcome if the world changes to accept and welcome differences. Diversity as a value.”
From there came the choice to entrust the Tricolore entrance to Carlotta Bertotti, model and influencer born with a birthmark covering her face, then handed to Paralympic triathlete Veronica Yoko Plebani, witness to inclusive sport and considered by Vogue a symbol of new beauty.
Next, the Mameli Anthem was performed by Mimì, winner of X Factor 2024, accompanied by music producer Ginevra Nervi and the Gruppo Vocale Novecento directed by Maurizio Saquegna.
Welcoming the show’s start was the entrance of Italian President Sergio Mattarella, greeted by long applause from the parterre audience. Beside him sat International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, along with Senate and Chamber Presidents Ignazio La Russa and Lorenzo Fontana, and Ministers Matteo Salvini, Andrea Abodi, and Alessandra Locatelli.
The ceremony unfolded through four chapters—Vibes, Spaces, Loves, Together—built as a narrative journey where body movement became a metaphor for an inclusive society.
The concept, supported by scenography shared for logistical reasons with the visual setup used for the Olympic Closing ceremony, favored a direct and contemporary narrative: not a celebration of disability as exception, but the representation of a space designed for all.
A narrative with a highly immersive visual setup based on architectural videoprojections, modular scenographies, and a dynamic lighting design system capable of transforming the Arena’s space into a grand performative environment.
The scenic language played on the interaction between performers, architecture, and technology. French choreographer Yoann Bourgeois, known for work on gravity, falls, and centrifugal forces, contributed sequences where bodies seemed to defy physical laws, emphasizing that in a truly inclusive space, everyone can interact equally.
The ceremony opened with a “Circulatory Apparatus” signed by world-renowned artist Jago, a sequence of thirty ceramic hearts, each depicting a micro-movement of the heartbeat. Using 3D printing, the artist created a mold for each heartbeat phase, making unique hearts for each moment.
One of the most anticipated moments was the entrance of Paralympic delegations. The Arena lit up as participating countries’ flags entered accompanied by global Italian house music trio Meduza.
For this edition, however, athletes did not carry the flags. The International Paralympic Committee decided that 57 volunteers, one per competing country, would parade with nation placards. The choice was mainly logistical—many competitions started the next morning—but also reflected political tensions over the readmission of Russian and Belarusian athletes with national symbols.
Only 29 of the 55 delegations at the Games brought athletes to Verona’s parade, while other nations delegated to volunteers. Some Eastern European countries, including Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine, chose not to attend in protest.
After the representation of the three Paralympic Agitos, symbolizing Paralympic values of courage, determination, and equality, Dardust entered the stage, performing at the Arena’s center inside a polyhedron inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s geometric studies.
Official composer of the Winter Paralympic Games soundtrack, he wove his piano and electronic music to shape the “Life in Motion” concept. To his notes, a performance on Marina Pollonio’s optical art works, a key figure in Optical and Programmed Art: giant elementary geometric volumes, representing icons of inaccessible space, became accessible through music. At the end, the polyhedron with Dardust turned into a globe of men and women, transcending the concept of disability.
Among the performers were Daniele Terenzi, the world’s first dancer with a transfemoral prosthesis designed for dance, joined by Cirque du Soleil artists and international companies. Dardust’s console then transformed into a sphere of bodies, symbolizing a union of forces reshaping space and the concept of disability.
In connection from the Teatro Filarmonico, there was also the touching performance of cellist Valentina Irlando with the Gnu Quartet string quartet and deaf dancer Carmen Diodato.
The musical component spanned diverse genres. DJ and producer Miky Bionic, known for performing with a myoelectric bionic hand after losing his left arm in an accident, accompanied his performance with an emotional video dedicated to the Paralympics.
The ceremony’s third movement, Loves, paid homage to Verona and the universal myth of Romeo and Juliet. Artist Emilio Isgrò read his poem Loves on video, while two groups of performers animated a choreography around a scenic structure inspired by Leonardo’s machines.
Blind athlete Silvia Parente, four-time Paralympic alpine skiing bronze medalist and Turin 2026 symbol, carried the Paralympic flag with medalist Paralympians Enzo Masiello, Angelo Zanotti, Christian Lanthaler, Joseph Eralcher, and Dorothea Agetle.
After the Paralympic anthem and oath, a video presented the final torch journey to Milan, Cortina, and Verona thanks to 501 torchbearers involved.
The climax was the arrival of the Paralympic torch with Bebe Vio, fencing champion and icon of the Italian Paralympic movement. In a symbolic gesture, the athlete lit the luminous devices in the performers’ hands at the scene’s center, creating a light choreography that transformed the entire Arena.
Simultaneously, Paralympic cauldrons lit in three cities: Verona, Milan at the Arco della Pace with Gianmaria Dal Maistro, and Cortina d’Ampezzo, where the torch was lit by Francesca Porcellato. A choice marking a milestone: Milano Cortina 2026 was the first “diffused” Paralympics in history, with three symbolic places connected in the lighting ceremony.
After nearly two hours of show, the ceremony closed with a collective moment to Domenico Modugno’s “Nel blu dipinto di blu.” The arrangement, signed by Vittorio Cosma, involved all the evening’s artists in a grand international chorus with the present audience.
A finale that transformed the Arena into a symbolic shared space, the perfect synthesis of the Games’ message: inclusion, solidarity, and participation.
The event required large-scale production coordination between live show, TV direction, and remote links, turning the Arena into an open-sky studio integrating live performances, video contributions, and simultaneous connections with the Games’ other symbolic cities.
A ceremony that enchanted the world and was made possible also thanks to the intense work of the entire Milano Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee, from CEO Andrea Varnier to ceremonies director Maria Laura Iascone, to every team member of the Foundation.
The Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympics featured 655 athletes from around the world, the highest number ever for a winter edition. Athletes competed for 79 medals in six disciplines: para Nordic skiing, para alpine skiing, para ice hockey, para biathlon, para snowboard, and wheelchair curling.
The choice of Verona’s Arena as the ceremony venue also had symbolic and infrastructural value. Ahead of the Games, the Roman amphitheater, older than the Colosseum, underwent a major accessibility upgrade costing about 20 million euros, with new elevators and services for people with disabilities, interventions destined to remain as a permanent legacy for the city.
With Life in Motion, Filmmaster signed a powerful narrative that placed athletes and their movement at the center, transforming the scenic space into a metaphor for a truly inclusive society.