Following last year’s success, BIF&ST 2026 – Bari International Film&TV Festival will once again host DOPPIO TESTO, the section dedicated to exploring the relationship between cinema and literature. A series of screenings and morning talks at the Teatro Kursaal Santalucia focusing on the transition from page to screen, exploring how a literary work can be transformed into a film or series and what new narrative paths emerge from this adaptation.
Once again, the meetings will be led by the writer Chiara Tagliaferri (author of Strega comanda colore and, with Michela Murgia, of the books in the Morgana series), co-curator of the section alongside Oscar Iarussi, who will guide the audience in an open dialogue with directors and authors, exploring languages, poetics and creative processes.
The protagonists of the series of events will be: director Marco Pontecorvo with Andrea Vitali for Una finestra vista lago, the new Rai1 series, based on Andrea Vitali’s books, which depicts the microcosm of Bellamo, a village on the shores of the lake inhabited by eccentric and, at times, hilarious characters. At the heart of the story are Marshal Ernesto Maccadò (Antonio Folletto) and his young wife Maristella (Giulia D’Aloia), both of whom have moved to the North from Calabria. And then there are Laura Samani and Giacomo Covi, respectively director and lead actor of Un anno di scuola, adapted from the novel of the same name by Giani Stuparich, a 20th-century classic; this coming-of-age film won the award for Best Male Performance in the Orizzonti section at Venice for Covi, and will be released in cinemas on 9 April, distributed by Lucky Red; the innovative opera director Damiano Michieletto with his feature film debut Primavera, a story about music set in early 18th-century Venice, adapted from Tiziano Scarpa’s novel Stabat Mater; Roberto Andò, attending BIF&ST as President of the International Jury for the Meridiana competition, will also be the focus of a special event dedicated to L’abbaglio, a film recounting one of the central episodes of the Expedition of the Thousand in Sicily, inspired by real events in 1860 and Leonardo Sciascia’s short story Il silenzio.
The BIF&ST 2026, directed by journalist and film critic Oscar Iarussi, is the festival of the Region of Puglia, chaired by Antonio Decaro, produced by the Apulia Film Commission Foundation, chaired by Anna Maria Tosto and directed by Antonio Parente, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, the Municipality of Bari, the University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, and numerous other public and private partners to be announced at a later date.