Lucania Film Festival: an edition centred on ‘guilt’
The festival in Pisticci, Matera and Tolve returns from 2 to 9 August. A special award goes to Marco Tullio Giordana
Cinema centred on guilt. This is the central theme of the 27th edition of the Lucania Film Festival, a festival dedicated to the seventh art, taking place from 2 to 9 August in Basilicata, across Pisticci, Matera and Tolve. The event, directed by Rocco Calandriello in collaboration with the Iranian director Hana Makhmalbaf and the actress Marianna Fontana, reaffirms its commitment to exploring marginalised realities and the transformations of the contemporary world through the lens of cinema.
The festival kicks off on 2 August with the traditional dawn concert at the mouth of the Cavone, on the Ionian Sea, featuring the artists Liron Meyuhas and Arezoo Rezvani, in a symbolic tribute to the cultures of the Mediterranean. The following day, the festival will move to Matera with the world premiere of the walking performance The Great Funerals of the Mediterranean, a narrative journey through the Sassi dedicated to symbolic figures from Mediterranean history, accompanied by music and artistic performances.
On 4 August, in Tolve, the spotlight will be on internationalisation with the LFF OFF International project, organised in collaboration with the Metro Manila Film Festival in the Philippines. The programme includes a screening of the multi-award-winning film I’m Perfect by Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo and a meeting with a Philippine film delegation. On the same day, the international network dedicated to Saint Roch, Patron Saint of Cinema, will also be presented.
In Pisticci, on 5 August, the festival gets into full swing with the launch of the School of Festival and the screenings of the films in competition: 45 directors have been selected from over 3,500 entries from all over the world. Kicking off the public events will be the actress Maria Chiara Giannetta, who will lead a discussion on accessibility and inclusion in the audiovisual sector. One of the programme’s most significant initiatives is the project dedicated to accessible cinema, featuring workshops, inclusive activities and a special screening of Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi in an audio-described version for blind and visually impaired people.
On 6 August, the focus will be on training and the cultural industry with the Matinée Lucane, a series of professional meetings hosted at the Amaro Lucano Business Museum. The programme includes workshops on the relationship between cinema and schools, a discussion between universities and the Film Commission of Southern Italia, and the presentation of the new national award for degree theses on cinema in Southern Italia.
