Geo answer

A Italian town that’s trying to reinvent itself figures in today’s Geo Quiz.

The small town in question is in Sicily. It once served as headquarters for Italian 19th century hero Giuseppe Garibaldi. But — more recently — an earthquake and a faltering economy made it more of a ghost town.

Now the town is planning its revival. It’s giving away earthquake-damaged houses in the town’s charming old quarter for ONE EURO.

That’s about a dollar-thirty, if you’re interested. The only condition is that buyers agree to fix the houses up.

Future plans for the town include a “never-ending film festival,” with as many as ten movies showing daily.

That will require a lot of films.

Well, a video shop owner in New York City has agreed to donate his collection of over 50,000 videos. We’ll hear more about that in a moment.

First name the Sicilian town that’s hoping to get itself going again…

Back in 1987, a young Korean immigrant named Yongman Kim opened a video rental store in the East Village of New York City, It soon became famous for its wide and wild selection of films.

Kim’s VideoKim’s Video

It was a film lovers’ treasure trove — hard-to-find films of all kinds, both foreign and domestic — and cult movie posters at every turn.

But as VHS rentals gave way to DVD’s and mail order movie services, Kim’s video store hit hard times.

Marco Werman: “Mr. Kim, when you decided to close — you tried for awhile to give away your collection of 50,000 videos — what happened? Was there much interest?”

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And now let me introduce Italian graphic designer Franca Pauli. She’s founder of a small arts organization called Clio. It’s dedicated to giving artists political power by promoting “arts culture as an everyday thing.”

She helped bring about this connection between Salemi, Sicily and a Kim’s music and video store in New York City. And Salemi, Sicily is the answer to our Geo Quiz.

Listen to the interview: