Leading figures from contemporary cinema and television will be among the guests at the 17th edition of BIF&ST – Bari International Film & TV Festival, scheduled to take place in Bari from 21 to 28 March 2026. The list of award winners is further enhanced by the BIF&ST ‘Arte del Cinema’ Award, which this year will also be presented to Trudie Styler, Luisa Ranieri and Valeria Golino.
The British director, producer and actress Trudie Styler will receive the festival’s award on Friday 27 March at the Teatro Petruzzelli. A leading figure in international independent cinema, Styler directed the documentary Posso entrare? An Ode to Naples and Freak Show, and has recently returned to directing with Up Against It, due for release in late 2026. In 2011, Styler co-founded Maven Pictures with producer Celine Rattray, a company dedicated to championing female voices and promoting diversity in the film industry. As a producer, she has been behind successful titles, including Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, Duncan Jones’s Moon and Dito Montiel’s A Guide for Recognising Your Saints, which will be screened at the festival in the ‘Pomeriggio al Petruzzelli’ section. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience in the presence of Walter Fasano (27 March at 17.00, Teatro Petruzzelli).
Also expected on stage at the Teatro Petruzzelli is Luisa Ranieri, one of Italy’s most beloved actresses, from her early days with Leonardo Pieraccioni in Il Principe e il Pirata to collaborations with great directors including Antonio Capuano (L’amore buio), Pupi Avati (Gli amici del bar Margherita), Ferzan Ozpetek (Allacciate le cinture, Nuovo Olimpo, Diamanti) and Paolo Sorrentino (È stata la mano di Dio, Parthenope) right up to the more recent Natale senza Babbo with Alessandro Gassmann and her television successes with Le indagini di Lolita Lobosco and La Preside. Luisa Ranieri will be the guest of honour at a discussion moderated by Paolo Mereghetti (Wednesday 25 March at 18.00, Teatro Petruzzelli), at the end of which the actress will receive the Bif&st ‘Arte del Cinema’ Award.
Among the guests at the 17th edition is also Valeria Golino, an actress and director who ranks among the most influential figures in contemporary Italian cinema. Discovered by Lina Wertmüller and winner of her first Coppa Volpi at the Venice Film Festival for Citto Maselli’s Storia d’amore, she has built an international career working on unforgettable films such as Rain Man. Alongside her acting career, she has also successfully taken up directing, creating works such as Miele, Euforia and the recent, acclaimed series L’arte della gioia, based on the novel by Goliarda Sapienza. Golino will take part in a public discussion led by critic Paolo Mereghetti, dedicated to her journey between acting and directing (Saturday 28 March at 16.30, Teatro Petruzzelli), and will receive the Bif&st ‘Arte del Cinema’ Award.
Following the success of last year’s edition, the festival welcomes back the events of IL SEGRETO DELL’ATTRICE, a series curated by Piera Detassis, President and Artistic Director of the Accademia del Cinema Italiano – Premi David di Donatello, together with the festival’s Artistic Director Oscar Iarussi. In conversation with Piera Detassis, three stars of film and television: Maria Chiara Giannetta (24 March at 17.30), beloved by audiences for projects including Blanca and Follemente, and soon to appear on Netflix in La valanga and on Sky in the series Rosa elettrica; Anna Ferzetti (25 March at 17.00), one of the leads in Ferzan Ozpetek’s Diamanti and Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grazia, currently on stage in the play People, places & things directed by Pierfrancesco Favino; Tecla Insolia (26 March at 17.30), a rising star in acclaimed films and series such as Valeria Golino’s L’arte della gioia, Elisa Amoruso’s Amata and Damiano Michieletto’s Primavera, and soon to be seen on the big screen in Irene Dionisio’s Idda. The events will take place at Il Circolo della Vela (free admission).