Sections, genres and themes
MERIDIANA COMPETITION
The international MERIDIANA competition returns this year with free screenings at the Teatro Kursaal Santalucia. From Sunday 22 to Saturday 28 March, 12 films from countries across the Euro-Mediterranean region – understood in the broadest sense, encompassing not only geography but also geopolitics and culture – will be screened. Furthermore, free repeat screenings of all titles in this section are scheduled at the Cinema Piccolo in Santo Spirito.
The films in this section all share the distinction of being Italian premieres; with some of them also world premieres, such as the section’s opening film, the documentary A WAR ON WOMEN by Raha Shirazi, an Iranian director living in Italy. The film traces the history of the feminist movement in Iran from the 1960s to the present day, through the interwoven testimonies of activists from the “Woman, Life, liberty’ movement, with contributions from prominent Iranian exiles such as Golshifteh Farahani.
Among the titles from the Balkan region is MAN OF THE HOUSE by Andamion Murataj; set in contemporary Albania, the film tells the story of a sworn virgin, a woman who has chosen to live as a man according to local tradition, but who faces a crisis when her maternal feelings resurface. Also from the Balkans comes GOD WILL NOT HELP by Hana Jušić: set in the early 20th century in the mountainous region of Dalmatian Zagora, it tells the story of the arrival of a mysterious Chilean woman in a community of Croatian shepherds, an event that upsets the community’s balance. From Greece comes BEACHCOMBER by Aristotelis Maragkos, already awarded for Best Director at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, a poetic allegory of the imagined odyssey of a sailor-poet who dreams of launching a rusty wreck back into the sea to sail the Mediterranean. Egypt is represented by HAPPY BIRTHDAY by Sarah Goher, winner at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York and shortlisted to represent Egypt at the Academy Awards, here in its Italian premiere. The film explores social and class tensions in contemporary Cairo through the story of a young girl working as a domestic helper. From North Africa comes NOMAD SHADOW by Eimi Imanishi, previously acclaimed at the Toronto Film Festival in Canada, and making its Italian debut. The film tells the story of a woman repatriated to Western Sahara, her homeland, after living in Spain for ten years, forced to confront the difficult process of rediscovering her identity amidst uprooting. From Armenia comes LE PAYS D’ARTO by Tamara Stepanyan, almost a psychological thriller but also a reflection on the trauma of war, through the story of a French woman travelling to Armenia in search of the true identity of her husband, an Armenian with an ambiguous past who committed suicide in France. Among the European titles, LA PETITE DERNIERE stands out, presented in competition at Cannes and directed by actress-director Hafsia Herzi – a symbolic figure of Kechiche’s cinema – whose lead actress, Nadia Melliti, a winner at numerous international festivals, will be a guest in Bari. A coming
of-age story about identity and coming to terms with one’s sexuality, centred on the protagonist Fatima, a young French woman of Algerian origin who clashes with the expectations of her Muslim family. Spain is represented by two films: SORDA by debutant Eva Libertad, about the adventure and challenge of motherhood for a deaf woman in a hearing world, which has just won three Goya Awards (the Spanish Oscars); and META MORPHOSIS by Chumilla Carbajosa, making its world premiere at Bif&st, a free cinematic reinterpretation of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, a surreal love story between a postman in a small Mediterranean town and a palm tree. From Portugal comes THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE by Eugène Green, a cult figure in international cinephilia who is also active in theatre and literature, adopting the style of a surreal fable on overtourism to depict Portugal today winter. Rounding off the selection is Italy with SEA SISTERS by Brunella Filì, presented as a world premiere, an Italian-Norwegian co-production that brings together, not only financially but also narratively and symbolically, two worlds far apart – the sunny Puglia of Gallipoli and the icy Norway of the Arctic Sea – in search of a meeting point, creating a documentary diptych centred on Antonia and Sandra, two fisherwomen seeking emancipation, in their respective contexts of origin – different yet equally restrictive.
On a thematic and formal level, in addition to noting the presence of two documentaries, one can identify among the selected films a realistic, more classically narrative strand (which prevails in films such as La Petite Dernière, Sorda, Nomad Shadow, Man of the House, Happy Birthday and Le Pays d’Arto) and a more allegorical and cinematically experimental, which manifests itself in various forms – the fable, the dream, the epic – in works such as Meta Morphosis, The Tree of Knowledge, Beachcomber and God Will Not Help.
It is worth noting that most of the films will be accompanied by their directors, who will thus be able to engage in a genuine dialogue with the audience after the screening through Q& – a way of complementing the films and enhancing their presence in Bari through direct engagement with the audience.
The films in the MERIDIANA section will be judged by an international jury, chaired by director and writer Roberto Andò and comprising Diana Martirosyan (film critic and cultural journalist, Armenia), Giovanni Orlando (film and television producer, USA), Fatma Sfar (actress, musician and performer, Tunisia) and Ahmed Shawky (film critic and president of FIPRESCI, Egypt).
The jury will award five prizes, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Leading Actor, Best Leading Actress and Best Artistic and Technical Achievement.
PER IL CINEMA ITALIANO COMPETITION
The PER IL CINEMA ITALIANO section is the second competition at Bif&st 2026 and features a selection of 10 films in competition, alongside 4 out-of-competition titles.
The films in competition — 6 fiction and 4 documentaries— are all being presented as Italian premieres at the very least, and stand out for their wide variety of themes, approaches and genres: from the historical-literary film DON QUIXOTE by Fabio Segatori to the coming-of-age comedy NON È LA FINE DEL MONDO by Valentina Zanella; from the family film IO NON TI LASCIO SOLO by Fabrizio Cattani to the tale of a criminal coming-of-age, CATTIVA STRADA, the debut feature by Davide Angiuli, shot in Bari. The selection also includes works that tackle, with different sensibilities, the theme of old age, such as ERA by Vincenzo Marra and FINALE:ALLEGRO by Emanuela Piovano. Alongside the feature-length films, there are medium-length films, such as SANTI E VAMPIRI (Sampyr) by Serena Porta. The competition also includes several documentaries, such as CAPRILEGIO by Margherita Laterza and Rosa Maietta, SU MAISTU by Gianfranco Cabiddu and TIRRENICA by Rosario Minervini, all premiering and similarly set in Southern Italy.
I film fuori concorso includono due titoli di finzione (B.A.E. – Before Anything Else di Paula Lingyi Sun e Alessio Hong e GIOVANNINO GUARESCHI – NON MUOIO NEANCHE SE MI AMMAZZANO di Andrea Porporati) e due documentari (DEVOZIONI di Gianfranco Pannone e RITORNO AL TRATTURO di Francesco Cordio), a loro volta girati rispettivamente in Basilicata e in Molise.
Even within the Italian competition, a ‘southern’ dimension emerges almost naturally, with landscapes and stories from the South running through and characterising the selection.
The screenings of PER IL CINEMA ITALIANO will take place from Sunday 22 March to Friday 27 every afternoon in the Galleria cinemas, with free admission. As with MERIDIANA, in this section screenings will also be accompanied by directors and often cast members, who will take part in a Q&A session with the audience following each screening. Among the guests accompanying the films in the cinema, alongside the directors, will be prominent actors such as Barbara Bouchet, Alessio Boni, Giorgio Pasotti, Fotinì Peluso, Yile Yara Vianello.
In keeping with Bif&st’s ‘community-oriented’ ethos, the films will be judged by a people’s jury, comprising 25 members, coordinated by director and actress Stefania Rocca. The films in competition are vying for four awards (Best Film, Best Director, Best Male and Female Performance), which will be awarded on the evening of 27 March.
It should be noted that, for both competitive sections (MERIDIANA, PER IL CINEMA ITALIANO), press conferences will be replaced by Q&As following screenings, during which the filmmakers attending in Bari will be able to engage with journalists and the public – a format that proved highly popular during the last edition.
FRONTIERE
The FRONTIERE section, once again at the Multicinema Galleria this year, comprises a diverse range of no fewer than 12 titles, varying in origin and subject matter, selected with greater freedom (there is no requirement for an Italian premiere). A sort of counterpoint to the official selection. This year’s titles include À BRAS-LE-CORPS by Marie-Elsa Sgualdo, in collaboration with the Swiss Embassy in Italy, about a female protagonist fighting for emancipation within the repressive rural Protestant community from which she hails, in 1940s Switzerland. The same theme of the struggle for women’s self-determination is echoed in the film ON VOUS CROIT by Charlotte Devillers and Arnaud Dufeys, a film about a mother who must face a judge to defend custody of her children; as well as in the documentary NUNS vs THE VATICAN by Lorena Luciano, which exposes cases of sexual abuse against nuns within the Catholic Church. The section also presents two major films from the recent festival season, premiering in Bari: PALESTINE 36 by Annemarie Jacir, selected to represent Palestine at the 2026 Academy Awards, which recounts the start of the first major Palestinian uprising against the British occupation and the Zionist movement in 1936; and HARÀ WATAN by Akio Fujimoto, dedicated to the journey of two young siblings — Shafi, aged four, and his sister Somira, aged nine — from Bangladesh to Malaysia to be reunited with their family.
The section also includes five documentaries. Among these is DOM by Massimiliano Battistella, presented here in a screening organised with CIHEAM and the Italian Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina: an intimate portrait of a Bosnian woman who grew up in Italy, in Rimini, and returns to Sarajevo for the first time as an adult, after fleeing as a child during the war, in an attempt to piece together her identity, torn between past and present. FILM DI STATO by Roland Sejko, constructed entirely from often previously unseen archive footage and dedicated to the forty years of the Albanian communist regime, and IL QUIETO VIVERE by Gianluca Matarrese. Completing the documentary selection are ORCHESTRA PLURALE by Pierluigi Ferrand, presented as a world premiere and dedicated to the experience of the Orchestra Plurale in Bari, which brings together musicians from countries marked by war, economic crises and political instability, and DEBRIS/DETRITI_ARGENTINA by Sergio Racanati.
The section concludes with two further titles: LEAVING EDEN by Genc Permeti, a world premiere, and A MOSQUITO IN THE EAR by Nicola Rinciari, presented as an Italian premiere, a film adapted from the graphic novel of the same name by Andrea Ferraris, which tells the complex and delicate story of a troubled adoption.
EVENTI SPECIALI
The Eventi Speciali represent a privileged space within the programme: a meeting point for cinema, theatre, television and the memory of our great cultural heritage.
Among the titles presented are LA SALITA by Massimiliano Gallo, a work that also pays tribute to Eduardo De Filippo, who will be awarded the “BIF&ST Autoclub Best Debut Film Award” at Bif&st, and ATTITUDINI: NESSUNA by Sophie Chiarello, starring Aldo Baglio, Giovanni Storti and Giacomo Poretti, which will receive the “Nico Cirasola Award for Independent Cinema”. A particularly significant moment will be the tribute to Dario Fo, on the centenary of his birth, with the screening of LO SVITATO by Carlo Lizzani, starring Dario Fo and Franca Rame, a tribute that will also feature the participation of Jacopo Fo. The dialogue between cinema and theatre continues with an event organised in collaboration with Puglia Culture, which presents two films: BOBÒ by Pippo Delbono and VIVA TONDELLI. UNO SCRITTORE DELLE NOSTRE PARTI by Michael Petrolini. There will also be a strong focus on series, with the preview of the new episode of GUERRIERI – LA REGOLA DELL’EQUILIBRIO by Gianluca Maria Tavarelli, starring Alessandro Gassmann, who will receive the “BIF&ST Nuova Fiera del Levante Award”, Ivana Lotito and Michele Venitucci, adapted from the novels by Gianrico Carofiglio, and the full screening of UN PROPHÈTE, directed by Enrico Maria Artale, who is also a guest in Bari, a remake of Jacques Audiard’s masterpiece, filmed in Puglia despite its French setting (the story is set in Marseille).
The programme is rounded off by three short films: LUNA VERDE by Mario Bucci, QUELLA SALETTA SUL MARE by Alessandro Piva and È COME SEMBRA by Anna Foglietta, produced for the association Una, Nessuna e Centomila.
Special events also include a tribute to Claudia Cardinale: LA RAGAZZA CON LA VALIGIA by Valerio Zurlini, one of the masterpieces of Italian cinema celebrating one of the most beloved icons of our cinematic history.
Finally, the other two sponsored awards include the “BIF&ST Chamber of Commerce Award” to producer and director Iginio Straffi and the “BIF&ST San Marzano Award” to actress and director Stefania Rocca, presented respectively on the opening and closing nights of the festival at the Teatro Petruzzelli.
A SUD
Three distinct events, yet united by the same spirit: telling stories, memories and identities that originate from the South. Afternoon screenings at AncheCinema, each accompanied by a discussion with the directors and stars of the films.
VITA MIA by Edoardo Winspeare, a film set in Southern Italy starring Dominique Sanda and Celeste Casciaro, which reaffirms the poetic vision of Winspeare’s cinema. The second event is dedicated to a key yet long-forgotten figure in Italian cinema: Elvira Notari. On the programme is the film ’A SANTANOTTE, one of the few surviving examples of her work, set to live music in an evocative performance, and accompanied by the documentary ELVIRA NOTARI. OLTRE IL SILENZIO by Valerio Ciraci, which reconstructs the extraordinary artistic journey of the first female director in Italian cinema, who is also ideologically linked to this ‘meridian’, as she was originally from Salerno. The third event is dedicated to sport and the story of a much-loved figure in Italian football with IGOR. L’EROE ROMANTICO DEL CALCIO by Luca Dal Canto. The documentary traces the career and personality of Igor Protti through testimonies and memories from teammates and key figures in Italian football. Protti is a figure who has also played a significant role in the sporting and cultural memory of the city of Bari, where he remains in the hearts of fans as one of the most beloved protagonists in the recent history of local football.
Three distinct events, yet united by a shared spirit: telling stories, memories and identities born of the South.
ROSSO DI SERA
Major premieres to accompany the festival evenings at the Teatro Petruzzelli. The programme includes three world premieres of Italian films, starting with the ensemble comedy IL DIO DELL’AMORE by Francesco Lagi, starring Vanessa Scalera, Francesco Colella, Corrado Fortuna, Vinicio Marchioni and Isabella Ragonese, a tale of the transformative power of love built around a cast of imperfect characters.
Next up is ANTARTICA – QUASI UNA FIABA, Lucia Calamaro’s debut feature starring Silvio Orlando and Barbara Ronchi, set in a community of scientists living at the edge of the known world: a tale suspended between reality and imagination that weaves together a fairy-tale dimension and ecological sensibility, and NEL TEPORE DEL BALLO, the new film by Pupi Avati, starring Massimo Ghini as a famous television presenter engulfed in a legal scandal. The cast also includes Isabella Ferrari, Giuliana De Sio and Lina Sastri. Continuing the tradition established in the previous edition, Rosso di sera also hosts a special event co-produced by the Bari International Film & TV Festival and the Petruzzelli Foundation: the screening of NUOVO CINEMA PARADISO by Giuseppe Tornatore accompanied by a live performance of Ennio Morricone’s famous soundtrack, presented in the evocative film-concert format.
Among the international titles, Bradley Cooper’s new film, IS THIS THING ON? (È l’ultima battuta?), starring Laura Dern and Will Arnett, stands out as a brilliant comedy about a divorced couple who reconnect through stand-up comedy, premiering at Bif&st courtesy of The Walt Disney Company Italia and Searchlight Pictures. Rounding off the programme are two titles from the new season of European cinema: PARTIR UN JOUR (Allora balliamo) by Amélie Bonnin, a culinary and romantic comedy with musical touches, and the eagerly awaited KÖLN 75 by Ido Fluk, which tells the story of the most famous jazz concert in history: Keith Jarrett’s legendary Köln Concert. The section concludes with the eagerly awaited new chapter in Abdellatif Kechiche’s Mektoub trilogy: MEKTOUB, MY LOVE – CANTO DUE, set in the south of France in the 1990s and presented in its Italian premiere at Bif&st.
The opening and closing nights of ROSSO DI SERA will be hosted by actress Irene Maiorino alongside Oscar Iarussi.
FILM SCREENINGS
All ROSSO DI SERA events will be preceded by the presentation of the Bif&st “Arte del Cinema” Award for creative excellence throughout a body of work, intended for some of the most prestigious figures on the contemporary scene – the same guests featured in the morning CINEMA ENCOUNTERS, also held at the Petruzzelli.
The Bif&st
“Arte del Cinema” will be awarded to Kasia Smutniak (21 March); Alessandro Baricco (22 March); Elena Sofia Ricci (23 March); Giuseppe Tornatore (24 March); Wes Studi (25 March); Francesca Archibugi (26 March); Domenico Procacci (26 March); Paolo Virzì (27 March); Lino Banfi (28 March); Abdellatif Kechiche (28 March); Checco Zalone and Luca Medici (28 March); and Gennaro Nunziante (28 March). Each event will be preceded by a screening of a film chosen by the award winner. Among these is LA STAZIONE (1990) by Sergio Rubini, one of the first films produced by Domenico Procacci, a film that has become iconic and generational, shown here in the 4K restoration by the Cineteca Nazionale.
The award winners also include two Oscar winners: Wes Studi and Giuseppe Tornatore.
POMERIGGI AL PETRUZZELLI
The Petruzzelli also hosts afternoon previews, part of the programme for the POMERIGGI AL PETRUZZELLI section, including ILLUSIONE by Francesca Archibugi, the documentary TUTTA VITA by Valentina Cenni – which will see the director in Bari alongside Stefano Bollani and Daniele Sepe – and the restoration of Riccardo Milani’s film IL POSTO DELL’ANIMA, honoured by the presence of Riccardo Milani, Paola Cortellesi, Silvio Orlando and Claudio Santamaria. As a pre-opening event for the festival, on the afternoon of Saturday 21st, there will be a tribute to director Peter Dal Monte, who passed away five years ago, featuring the film NELLE TUE MANI starring Kasia Smutniak.
DOPPIO TESTO
The cross-pollination between the arts and languages is reflected in the DOPPIO TESTO section, curated with the writer Chiara Tagliaferri, who will lead discussions at the Kursaal Santalucia on the relationship between cinema and literature with Marco Pontecorvo and Andrea Vitali presenting the Rai drama UNA FINESTRA VISTA LAGO, Damiano Michieletto with his PRIMAVERA, Laura Samani with UN ANNO DI SCUOLA and Roberto Andò himself with L’ABBAGLIO.
MUSICA E CINEMA
Running through the variety of sections and titles in the programme – from the competitions to the screenings at the Petruzzelli, right through to the meetings with the authors – a thematic thread emerges in this year’s Bif&st, alongside the literary one, which surfaces almost as a watermark: music.
Present both explicitly, as in the meeting with Alessandro Baricco, which takes its cue from Miloš Forman’s great classic AMADEUS, in the documentary TUTTA VITA dedicated to Stefano Bollani, or in Ido Fluk’s film KÖLN 75 and Damiano Michieletto’s PRIMAVERA, and as a narrative and atmospheric element, capable of bringing romantic stories to life (PARTIR UN JOUR) or setting the pace of social and collective documentaries (ORCHESTRA PLURALE) . Added to this is the aforementioned concert film NUOVO CINEMA PARADISO at the Petruzzelli, the live performance by Wes Studi and the great pianist Emanuele Arciuli entitled “Native Paths. Poetry and music of the Native Americans”, which will take place during the Rosso di sera evening dedicated to Studi himself, the live concert by Eva Danino and Mattia Vlad Morleo “Lumières possibles – Musica, corpo, luce” and the masterclass “Noi siamo le colonne – viaggio all’interno della musica applicata alle immagini”, curated by Pivio, in collaboration with the “Piccinni” Conservatory of Bari.
A cross-cutting presence, which does not constitute a section in its own right, but accompanies the entire festival in the background, suggesting a unifying interpretation across works of different genres and languages.
NOTTI HORROR
The latest addition this year is the new HORROR NIGHTS section, which brings four classic titles to the screen, including REAZIONE A CATENA by Mario Bava, in the version restored by the CSC – National Film Archive, and DEMONI by Lamberto Bava, who will be our guest, as well as the new horror film TI UCCIDERANNO (They will kill you) by Kirill Sokolov, which will be released by Warner Bros. Discovery in cinemas worldwide on 26 March, meaning audiences in Bari will be able to see it in a world premiere.
CORTOMETRAGGI – SARÒ BREVE
The short film competition ‘Sarò breve’ comprises 20 Italian and international short films, and this year the selection takes the form of a fully-fledged competitive contest. The short films are in fact competing for the ‘Damiano Russo’ Award for Best Short Film, which will be presented on the evening of 26 March at the Teatro Petruzzelli. The award will be decided by a jury of audience members, who will watch the shorts in the cinema and will be invited to express their preferences. Screenings are scheduled in two slots at the Cinema Galleria, on Saturday 21 and Wednesday 25 March.
PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION
This year, thanks to the valuable collaboration between Fondazione Puglia and Fondazione Apulia Film Commission, Bif&st presents an immersive audio-photographic exhibition in the restored Palazzo Starita, curated by journalist and film critic Silvio Danese, entitled SEMBRA CH’È PASSATO UN GIORNO. VOICES, STORIES, IMAGES FROM THE ROMANCE OF ITALIAN CINEMA.
The exhibition, open from Friday 20 March until Sunday 12 April, features rare photographs, archive material and sound recordings from public and private collections, with an exhibition layout designed as an audiovisual journey through the history of Italian cinema.
LOCAL SCHOOLS
The collaboration, launched during the last edition, with the Regional Education Office for Puglia is confirmed, ensuring the participation in the festival of dozens of students in their fourth and fifth years of upper secondary school.
BIF&ST 2026
BIF&ST – Bari International Film & TV Festival returns to Bari from Saturday 21 to Saturday 28 March. Now in its 17th edition, the festival, directed by journalist and film critic Oscar Iarussi, is the festival of the Puglia Region, chaired by Antonio Decaro, produced by the Apulia Film Commission Foundation, with Anna Maria Tosto as president and Antonio Parente as director. It is funded by the Puglia Region (project funded with resources from the POC Revolving Fund 2021–2027), with the support of MiC – Directorate-General for Cinema and Audiovisual Media, and SIAE, in collaboration with the Municipality of Bari, with contributions from the Petruzzelli Foundation, the Bari Chamber of Commerce,
Nuova Fiera del Levante, Fondazione Puglia, ANCE Bari Barletta Andria Trani, Confindustria Bari Barletta Andria Trani, Club Imprese per la Cultura Confindustria Bari Barletta Andria Trani, under the patronage of the University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Bari Polytechnic, Bari Academy of Fine Arts, USR Puglia, CIHEAM Bari, Niccolò Piccinni Conservatory of Music, Bari.
Platinum Sponsors: San Marzano Vini, Autoclub Group. Premium Sponsors: BdM Banca, BPPB, Famila (part of the Megamark Group), Apulia Digital ITS Academy. Sponsors: Circolo Della Vela Bari, Mario Mossa Jewellers, Silvia Palatella Hair Stylist.
In collaboration with: Cineteca Nazionale, Cineteca Bologna, Cinecittà, David di Donatello – Italian Film Academy, Rai Fiction, Rai Puglia, Fondazione Fo Rame, Aeroporti di Puglia, Swiss Embassy in Italy, Titanus, Prix Palatine, Radio UniBa, Fondazione Una nessuna centomila.
ANTONIO DECARO, President of the Puglia Region
Bif&st was a gamble that the Puglia Region took on itself and with its community. Today, 17 years on, given the results achieved year after year, we can say that it is a gamble the people of Puglia have won. And despite this, every year we try to take a step forward, constantly taking on new challenges: from styles, to productions, to guests, to the themes addressed. Because for the Puglia Region, Bif&st has never been merely a film festival, but a strategic lever for cultural development that involves, first and foremost, the Apulian community, which has proven over time to be responsive and proactive, challenging the organisers to do and give ever more. Of all the arts, cinema is the one that is most shaped by and nourished from the reality around us, and for this reason a film festival cannot fail to engage with the times in which we live. The global geopolitical context compels us to reflect on the new, and unfortunately dramatic, scenarios we are witnessing, whilst always striving not to forget that Puglia and Bari, today more than ever, are at the centre of a universe – the Euro-Mediterranean – which presents us with new worlds to interpret and recount. We shall do so again this year, thanks to the guests who will take part throughout the Festival, to the films in competition and in the programme, and thanks to the public: the community of filmgoers who, during these days, become an active part of the Festival itself, through constant dialogue and participation that makes this festival a living, dynamic, evolving event, capable of opening up to the world without neglecting to promote our excellence and our identity.
VITO LECCESE, Mayor of Bari
It is with deep pride and renewed enthusiasm that we welcome the 17th edition of Bif&st – Bari International Film&TV Festival, an unmissable event on the Italian and international cultural scene. Since its inception, the festival has distinguished itself as a stage of excellence, a crossroads of visions, stories and languages that embrace the vast universe of cinema, helping to restore Bari’s role as the cultural capital of Southern Italy and a hub for exchange and dialogue.
Bari is increasingly establishing itself as a natural setting where history, culture and art intertwine in a growing number of television and film productions, confirming its status as a creative laboratory in constant growth.
This is thanks, above all, to this extraordinary festival, which continues to surprise and inspire, strengthening the bond between Bari and the world of cinema.
ANNA MARIA TOSTO, President of the Apulia Film Commission
If last year’s edition of Bif&st that, drawing on the past and its history, aimed to create a festival with an ever-stronger identity, the 2026 edition brings this journey to a conclusion and delivers a cinema event—and more—that captures the essence of the great community that is Southern Italy.
Having renewed and consolidated the organisational structure of a complex event such as a festival of national and international scope, Oscar Iarussi’s artistic direction presents a Bif&st 2026 that reflects on the times—both past and present—while also looking towards the future of cinema. It builds a festival that explores diverse cultures, seeks the thread that connects them, and offers cinema to the public as a universal language through which to rediscover the multiplicity of perspectives and, at the same time, our shared roots.
The financial support of the Puglia Region, the commitment of the Apulia Film Commission, and the collaboration with the City of Bari and with both private and public sponsors make it possible to renew this prestigious event, which this year too will make culture and cinema a driving force for growth and an opportunity for hope.
OSCAR IARUSSI, Artistic Director of Bif&st
Bif&st returns with its festive atmosphere and may serve as a sort of respite – eight days of screenings and meetings in Bari – in an otherwise gloomy global context. We are constantly reached by echoes of wars in the Middle East, Ukraine and elsewhere, tragic crises compounded by the decline of the UN’s impartiality and the erosion of rights in favour of the law of the jungle. ‘Peace’ is a word that has gone out of fashion. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, some hastily declared ‘the end of history’ by virtue of the West’s victory over the Soviet bloc, but that is not exactly how it turned out and, following the fires of 11 September 2001 and the height of Islamist fundamentalism, the superpowers—the US, China and Russia—have reshaped a shifting geopolitical landscape that converges on marginalising Europe and the Mediterranean. Nevertheless, the sea that separates yet unites the Old Continent with North Africa and Western Asia could be a geopolitical area rich in potential for the future, if only we were willing ‘see it’. A vast area – from Portugal to the Balkans, from the Aegean to Morocco, from the Nile to the Danube – which, under conditions of peace and more widespread democracy, would play a crucial role in maintaining balance and mediation. Is this a utopia?
Perhaps, but it cannot be ruled out that the very realisation of this utopia is the fear of those who undermine the European Union and fuel its divisions.
Thirty years on from Franco Cassano’s Il pensiero meridiano (Laterza 1996), the philosopher after whom we named the Bif&st award for best international film, it may be valuable to revisit his writings on the need for community and the protection of the commons. These are values that the Italianist Giuseppe Lupo has recently attributed to a sphere he calls Medioccidente (Marsilio 2026): ‘An unfinished East, an unbegun West, at the crossroads of multiple cultures’ – and among whose symbolic cities we find Bari, the cradle of St Nicholas’s ecumenism. What do cinema and the Bif&st have to do with this? For one thing, they bear witness to the fact that artistic relationships and productive connections are vibrant, that there is a shared cultural horizon for the southern and northern shores of the Mediterranean, crossed every year by tens of thousands of migrants in search of a better future, even at the cost of their lives. Following the 2025 debut, with the blessing of the Franco-Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun , this time the films in the “Meridiana ” competition will be judged by a jury chaired by Palermo-born Roberto Andò, a refined and popular director, guardian of a tradition stretching from Pirandello to Tomasi di Lampedusa, from Rosi to Sciascia, and the photographer Ferdinando Scianna. Sharing this same heritage is Giuseppe Tornatore, himself a Sicilian from Bagheria, Oscar winner for Nuovo Cinema Paradiso and creator of international hits, whose enveloping narrative vein harbours a subtle melancholy never divorced from irony. We are dedicating a complete retrospective of Tornatore’s works to him, along with the film-concert Nuovo Cinema Paradiso featuring the music of Ennio Morricone, a formula that won over audiences last year and is being repeated thanks to the partnership between the Festival and the Petruzzelli Foundation Orchestra and Choir. A second Bif&st retrospective traces the filmography of the Franco-Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche, winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes for La vita di Adele, whose perspective on immigration and eroticism as a vital impulse establishes a distinctly Mediterranean body of work, right up to Mektoub, My Love – Canto due (2025), the final chapter – premiering in Bari – of a trilogy set in the South of France.
Also attending Bif&st will be Oscar Lifetime Achievement Award winner Wes Studi, the only Native American actor to have been honoured by the Academy with an Honorary Award in 2019, alongside Lina Wertmüller and David Lynch. With his charisma, he has left his mark on films such as Dances with Wolves,
The Last of the Mohicans, Geronimo, Heat, Avatar and Scott Cooper’s magnificent Hostiles, which we are presenting at the Petruzzelli on the same day as a unique performance of Native American poetry and melodies, when Studi will take to the stage in a duet with the great pianist Emanuele Arciuli. Bif&st 2026 launches a collaboration with the ‘Piccinni’ Conservatory in Bari, the first instalment of which is a workshop on film scores led by Roberto Pischiutta, known as Pivio, a prestigious composer of applied music. Indeed, music serves as a common thread throughout this 17th edition right from the opening weekend: the live performance by the very young musician Mattia Vlad Morleo alongside the French actress Eva Danino, the talk by Alessandro Baricco, which will take its cue from Miloš Forman’s Amadeus, and the documentary Tutta vita by Valentina Cenni and Stefano Bollani…
Another significant collaboration is thanks to the initiative of the Puglia Foundation, which is hosting the event in the restored Palazzo Starita and co-producing the photographic and audio exhibition entitled Sembra ch’è passato un giorno – Voci, storie, immagini dal romanzo del cinema italiano, curated by the critic and writer Silvio Danese. Further new additions are the Horror Nights coordinated by director Roberto De Feo, which include some unmissable titles by Mario and Lamberto Bava and the preview of the eagerly awaited Ti uccideranno – They Will Kill You by Kirill Sokolov. For this film, we are grateful to Warner Bros. Discovery, as well as to The Walt Disney Company Italia and Searchlight Pictures for Is This Thing On? – È l’ultima battuta? directed by Bradley Cooper. Speaking of classics, Bif&st is taking part in the celebrations marking the centenary of the birth of Dario Fo (24 March 1926), one of the world’s most performed actors and playwrights, and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997: we present Lo svitato from 1956, directed by Carlo Lizzani, in which Fo appears in the cast, introduced by his son Jacopo Fo, who will be at the Kursaal Santalucia on Sunday evening and in the Aula Magna of the University. Among the many other possible highlights is the restoration of Sergio Rubini’s La stazione, produced in 1990 by Domenico Procacci’s newly founded Fandango, which sparked a renaissance in Italian cinema. Worth noting is the involvement of Bari’s “Il Piccolo” cinema in the Festival’s programme, a move towards decentralisation that we value highly.
In a season marked by the historic box-office record set by Gennaro Nunziante’s Buen Camino, starring Checco Zalone – both of whom are present at Bif&st – we are taking the pulse of independent fiction and documentary production in the “Per il Cinema Italiano”, whose jury is chaired by the distinguished actress Stefania Rocca, who is set to make her directorial debut with L’ora di tutti, adapted from the novel by Maria Corti. The programme, comprising over 120 films and events, the previews of
“Rosso di sera” introduced on both Saturdays by the actress Irene Maiorino, the Bif&st Arte del Cinema Awards, the various sections, and, in short, the entire festival is dedicated to Claudia Cardinale, who passed away last September. She is an icon of the splendour of Italian cinema, an “indomitable” woman, as defined by her daughter Claudia Squitieri, but also a the Euro-Mediterranean embodiment par excellence. Born in La Goletta, a multi-ethnic village on the outskirts of Tunis, to a Sicilian family who had emigrated to North Africa, Claudia Cardinale arrived in Italy at a very young age and earned honours and fame through her work, later settling in France. Her ‘southern and mischievous’ smile (as Moravia put it) has fuelled our passion for cinema and will , we are certain, the young people flocking to Bif&st, who may well be seeing her for the first time on the big screen in Valerio Zurlini’s La ragazza con la valigia (1961).
Bif&st is the festival of the Puglia Region, chaired by Antonio Decaro, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the SIAE – Italian Society of Authors and Publishers, in collaboration with the Municipality of Bari and with renewed institutional relations, partnerships and sponsors: to each of them goes our heartfelt thanks. It is organised by the Apulia Film Commission Foundation, whose expertise and dedication constitute a contribution for which I am grateful, on behalf of everyone, to the president Anna Maria Tosto, the general director Antonio Parente and the project manager Cristina Piscitelli. Last but not least, thanks to the artistic and organisational team of the Festival, who have gone above and beyond. If ‘cinema is death at work’ (Jean Cocteau), every film – and festival – is an opportunity to evoke absences and presences that resurface into the limelight.
Here we wish to remember Giorgio Gosetti, journalist, film critic and founder of numerous festivals, a generous and witty friend, as well as the actor and director Nicola Valenzano, the cameraman and editor Francesco Saccente, and the playwright and performer Rino Bizzarro. 2026 marks the fifteenth anniversary of the death in a road accident of the very young actor from Bari, Damiano Russo: Bif&st has named the audience award for the best short film in the ‘Sarò breve’ competition after him.
THE SECTIONS:
MERIDIANA – TEATRO KURSAAL SANTALUCIA
PER IL CINEMA ITALIANO – MULTICINEMA GALLERIA
ROSSO DI SERA – TEATRO PETRUZZELLI
INCONTRI DI CINEMA – TEATRO PETRUZZELLI
POMERIGGIO AL PETRUZZELLI – TEATRO PETRUZZELLI
RETROSPETTIVA GIUSEPPE TORNATORE – MULTICINEMA GALLERIA
RETROSPETTIVA ABDELLATIF KECHICHE – TEATRO KURSAAL SANTALUCIA
FRONTIERE – MULTICINEMA GALLERIA
EVENTI SPECIALI – TEATRO KURSAAL SANTALUCIA, MULTICINEMA GALLERIA
DOPPIO TESTO – TEATRO KURSAAL SANTALUCIA
A SUD – TEATRO POLIFUNZIONALE ANCHECINEMA
NOTTI HORROR – MULTICINEMA GALLERIA
SARÒ BREVE – CORTOMETRAGGI – MULTICINEMA GALLERIA
IL SEGRETO DELL’ATTRICE – CIRCOLO DELLA VELA
EXPERTS ON THE BIF&ST 2026 SELECTION COMMITTEE
Massimo Causo, Marzia Gandolfi, Marina Sanna
ARTISTIC DIRECTION CONSULTANTS
Silvio Danese, Roberto De Feo, Piera Detassis, Paolo Mereghetti, Angela Prudenzi, Chiara Tagliaferri, Patrizia Wachter
THE FILMS
MERIDIANA COMPETITION
À ÀRVORE DO CONHECIMENTO (THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE) di Eugène Green
con Rui Pedro Silva, Gaspar, Ana Moreira, Rainha D. Maria I, Diogo Dória, O Ogre, João Arrais, Leitão, Leonor Silveira Hecatinha
Portogallo, Francia 2025, 100’
A WAR ON WOMEN di Raha Shirazi
Italia 2026, 102’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY di Sarah Goher
con Doha Ramadan, Nelly Karim, Hanan Motawie, Hanan Youssef
Egitto 2025, 91’
BOG NEĆE POMOĆI (GOD WILL NOT HELP/LA TERRA DEL FUOCO) di Hana Jušić
con Manuela Martelli, Ana Marija Veselčić, Filip Đurić, Mauro Ercegović Gracin, Nikša Butijer
Croazia, Italia, Romania, Grecia, Francia, Slovenia 2025, 137’
BURRI I SHTËPISË (ΜAN OF THE HOUSE/L’UOMO DI CASA) di Andamion Murataj
con Drita Kaba Karaga, Alesia Ruçi, Bislim Muçaj, Astrit Alihajdaraj
Albania, Italia, Austria, Croatia, Kosovo, Nord Macedonia 2025, 105’
LA PETITE DERNIERE (LA PIÙ PICCOLA) di Hafsia Herzi
con Nadia Melliti, Park Ji-min, Aloïse Sauvage, Némo Schiffman, Vincent Pasdermadjian
Francia, Germania 2025, 107’
LE PAYS D’ARTO (IN THE LAND OF ARTO) di Tamara Shepanyan
con Camille Cottin, Zar Amir, Hovnatan Avédikian, Shant Hovhannisyan, Denis Lavant
Francia-Armenia 2025, 104’
ΜΠΙΤΣΚΟΜΠΕΡ (BEACHCOMBER) di Aristotelis Maragkos
con Christos Passalis, Aliki Andriomenou, Stathis Kokkoris, Sotiris Belsis, Lefteris Polychronisi
Grecia 2025, 92’
META MORFOSIS (METAMORFOSI) di Chumilla-Carbajosa
con Enrique Martínez, Magüi Mira, Clara Sanchis, Sandra Roma
Spagna 2025, 97’
SEA SISTERS di Brunella Filì
con Sandra Eira, Antonia Capani
Italia, Norvegia 2026, 72’
SORDA (IL SILENZIO DEGLI ALTRI) di Eva Libertad Garcìa
con Miriam García, Álvaro Cervantes, Elena Irureta, Joaquín Notario, Erika Rubia, Marc Tapia, Agustín Otón
Spagna 2025, 99’
TAHAL BADAOUI (NOMAD SHADOW) di Eimi Imanishi
con Nadhira Mohamed, Suleiman Filali, Omar Salem, Eddami Elabed, Chekh Mehdi, Khadija Najem Allal, Ghizlane L’Koucha
Usa-Spagna-Francia 82’
PER IL CINEMA ITALIANO COMPETITION
CAPRILEGIO di Margherita Laterza e Rosa Maietta
con Margherita Laterza
Italia 2025, 98’
CATTIVA STRADA di Davide Angiuli
con Malich Cissé, Giulio Beranek
Italia 2025, 97’
DON CHISCIOTTE di Fabio Segatori
con Alessio Boni, Fiorenzo Mattu, Angela Molina, Marcello Fonte, Galatea Ranzi, Carlo De Ruggieri
Italia 2025, 112’
ERA di Vincenzo Marra
con Dalia Frediani, Maurizio Casagrande, Giovanni Esposito, Marinì Sabrina Fernando, Rosaria D’Urso, Angela De Matteo, Antonio Gerardi
Italia 2025, 93’
FINALE:ALLEGRO di Emanuela Piovano
con Barbara Bouchet, Anna Bonasso, Luigi Diberti, Nutsa Khubulava, Luca Chikovani
Italia 2025, 113’
IO NON TI LASCIO SOLO di Fabrizio Cattani
con Giorgio Pasotti, Valentina Cervi, Mimmo Borrelli, Andrea Matrone, Michael D’Arma
Italia 2025, 98’
NON È LA FINE DEL MONDO di Valentina Zanella
con Fotinì Peluso, Andrea Bosca, Paolo Ruffini, Paolo Rossi, Ivana Lotito, Barbara Bouchet
Italia 2026, 108’
SANTI E VAMPIRI (SAMPYR) di Serena Porta
con Francesco Paolo De Ceglia, Pasquale Palmieri, Francesco Introna, Mirko Lino, Pierroberto Scaramella, Tommaso Braccini, Giuseppe Ruggiero, Luigi Garlaschelli
Italia 2026, 60’
SU MAISTU di Gianfranco Cabiddu
Italia 2025, 96’
TIRRENICA di Rosario Minervini
Italia, Spagna 2025, 98’
PER IL CINEMA ITALIANO – FUORI CONCORSO
B.A.E. – Before Anything Else di Paula Lingyi Sun e Alessio Hong
con Riccardo de Rinaldis, Yile Yara Vianello, Jenny De Nucci, Mattia Carrano, Nina Pons
Italia, Malta 2026
DEVOZIONI di Gianfranco Pannone
con Antonio e Ciro Papa, Frate Giuseppe Celli e Frate Roberto Vecchio, Cristina Di Lagopesole, Caterina Pontrandolfo, Daniele e Angelo Bracuto, Famiglia Romanelli
Italia 2025, 80’
GIOVANNINO GUARESCHI – NON MUOIO NEANCHE SE MI AMMAZZANO di Andrea Porporati
con Giuseppe Zeno, Benedetta Cimatti
Italia 2026, 100’
RITORNO AL TRATTURO di Francesco Cordio
Italia 2026, 54’
ROSSO DI SERA
ANTARTICA – QUASI UNA FIABA di Lucia Calamaro
con Silvio Orlando, Barbara Ronchi, Valentina Bellè
Italia 2025, 93’
IL DIO DELL’AMORE di Francesco Lagi – Film di apertura
con Anna Bellato, Enrico Borello, Benedetta Cimatti, Chiara Ferrara, Francesco Colella, Corrado Fortuna, Vinicio Marchioni, Isabella Ragonese, Vanessa Scalera
Italia 2026, 120’
IS THIS THING ON? (È L’ULTIMA BATTUTA?) di Bradley Cooper
con Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andra Day, Bradley Cooper
Stati Uniti 2026, 120’
KÖLN 75 di Ido Fluk
con Mala Emde, John Magaro, Michael Chernus, Ulrich Tukur, Susanne Wolff
Germania, Polonia, Belgio 2025, 115’
MEKTOUB, MY LOVE – CANTO DUE di Abdellatif Kechiche
con Ophélie Baufle, Hafsia Herzi, Salim Kechiouche, Andre Jacobs
Francia 2025, 134’
NUOVO CINEMA PARADISO di Giuseppe Tornatore
con Philippe Noiret, Agnese Nano, Jacques Perrin, Marco Leonardi, Salvatore Cascio, Leo Gullotta, Enzo Cannavale, Leopoldo Trieste, Tano Cimarosa, Isa Danieli, Pupella Maggio
Italia 1988, 155’
NEL TEPORE DEL BALLO di Pupi Avati
con Massimo Ghini, Isabella Ferrari, Giuliana de Sio, Lina Sastri, Sebastiano Somma, Pino Quartullo, Morena Gentile, Manuela Morabito, Raoul Bova
Italia 2026, 92’
PARTIR UN JOUR (ALLORA BALLIAMO) di Amélie Bonnin
con Juliette Armanet, Bastien Bouillon, François Rollin, Tewfik Jallab, Dominique Blanc
Francia 2025, 94’
FILM SCREENINGS
AMADEUS di Milos Forman
con F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Erridge, Simon Callow, Roy Dotrice
Stati Uniti 1984, 158’
Followed by a meeting with Alessandro Baricco
HOSTILES di Scott Cooper
con Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi, Jesse Plemons, Adam Beach, Rory Cochrane, Peter Mullan, Scott Wilson, Paul Anderson, Timothée Chalamet
Stati Uniti 2018, 127’
Followed by a meeting with Wes Studi
LA BELLA VITA di Paolo Virzì
con Claudio Bigagli, Sabrina Ferilli, Massimo Ghini, Giorgio Algranti, Emanuele Barresi, Paola Tiziana Cruciani
Italia 1994, 97’
Followed by a meeting with Paolo Virzì
LA FARFALLA IMPAZZITA di Kiko Rosati
con Elena Sofia Ricci, Massimo Wertmüller, Jürgen Heinrich, Josafat Vagni, Fulvio Pepe, Mariangeles Torres, Silvia Cohen
Italia 2025, 98’
Followed by a meeting with Elena Sofia Ricci
LA MIGLIORE OFFERTA di Giuseppe Tornatore
con Geoffrey Rush, Jim Sturgess, Sylvia Hoeks, Donald Sutherland
Italia 2013, 124’
Followed by a meeting with Giuseppe Tornatore
LA STAZIONE di Sergio Rubini
con Margherita Buy, Sergio Rubini, Ennio Fantastichini
Italia 1990, 92’
Followed by a meeting with Domenico Procacci e Sergio Rubini
VIENI AVANTI CRETINO di Luciano Salce
con Lino Banfi, Adriana Russo, Franco Bracardi, Moana Pozzi, Michela Miti, Mimmo Poli, Luciano Salce
Italia 1982, 98’
LINO D’ITALIA – STORIA DI UN ITALIENO di Marco Spagnoli (anteprima 30’)
con Lino Banfi, Renzo Arbore, Michele Bravi, Enrico Brignano, Milly Carlucci, Christian De Sica, Edwige Fenech, Sergio Martino, Neri Parenti, Giulio Scarpati, Lunetta Savino, Walter Veltroni, Mara Venier, Milena Vukotic, Pio e Amedeo
Italia 2026, 90’
Followed by a meeting with Lino Banfi e Marco Spagnoli
POMERIGGIO AL PETRUZZELLI
ILLUSIONE di Francesca Archibugi
con Jasmine Trinca, Michele Riondino, Angelina Andrei, Vittoria Puccini, Francesca Reggiani, Aurora Quattrocchi, Filippo Timi
Italia, Belgio 2025, 110’
Followed by a meeting with Francesca Archibugi, Jasmine Trinca, Michele Riondino
IL POSTO DELL’ANIMA di Riccardo Milani
con Michele Placido, Silvio Orlando, Claudio Santamaria, Paola Cortellesi, Imma Piro, Flavio Pistilli, Maria Laura Rondanini, Davide Rossi, Donato Placido
Italia 2003, 106’
Followed by a meeting with Riccardo Milani, Paola Cortellesi, Silvio Orlando, Claudio Santamaria
NELLE TUE MANI di Peter Dal Monte
con Kasia Smutniak, Marco Foschi, Luisa De Santis
Italia 2007, 100’
Followed by a meeting with Kasia Smutniak
TUTTA VITA di Valentina Cenni
con Stefano Bollani, Enrico Rava, Paolo Fresu, Daniele Sepe, Antonello Salis, Ares Tavolazzi, Roberto Gatto, Matteo Mancuso, Christian Mascetta, Frida Bollani Magoni
Italia 2025, 73’
Followed by a meeting with Valentina Cenni, Stefano Bollani, Daniele Sepe
RETROSPETTIVA GIUSEPPE TORNATORE
BAARÌA di Giuseppe Tornatore
con Francesco Scianna, Margareth Madè, Raoul Bova, Monica Bellucci, Laura Chiatti, Enrico Lo Verso, Beppe Fiorello, Nicole Grimaudo
Italia 2009, 150’
BRUNELLO: IL VISIONARIO GARBATO di Giuseppe Tornatore
con Brunello Cucinelli, Saul Nanni
Italia 2025, 120’
ENNIO di Giuseppe Tornatore
con Ennio Morricone, Ǫuentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Hans Zimmer, Bruce Springsteen, John Williams, Dario Argento
Italia 2021, 150’
LA LEGGENDA DEL PIANISTA SULL’OCEANO (THE LEGEND OF 1900) di Giuseppe Tornatore
con Tim Roth, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Mélanie Thierry, Bill Nunn, Clarence Williams III, Gabriele Lavia
Italia 1998, 170’
IL CAMORRISTA (La serie) di Giuseppe Tornatore
con Ben Gazzara, Leo Gullotta, Laura del Sol, Nicola Di Pinto, Luciano Bartoli
Italia 1985, ep. 1-3, 150’; ep. 4-5, 100’
LA CORRISPONDENZA di Giuseppe Tornatore
con Jeremy Irons, Olga Kurylenko, Simon Anthony Johns, James Warren, Shauna Macdonald
Italia 2016, 116’
LA SCONOSCIUTA di Giuseppe Tornatore
con Ksenia Rappoport, Michele Placido, Claudia Gerini, Piera Degli Esposti, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alessandro Haber, Margherita Buy
Italia 2006, 118’
L’ULTIMO GATTOPARDO – RITRATTO DI GOFFREDO LOMBARDO di Giuseppe Tornatore
con Goffredo Lombardo, Alain Delon, Mario Monicelli, Ettore Scola, Francesco Rosi, Sophia Loren, Burt Lancaster
Italia 2010, 104’
L’UOMO DELLE STELLE di Giuseppe Tornatore
con Sergio Castellitto, Tiziana Lodato, Leopoldo Trieste, Leo Gullotta
Italia 1995, 113’
MALÈNA di Giuseppe Tornatore
con Monica Bellucci, Giuseppe Sulfaro, Luciano Federico, Matilde Piana, Pietro Notarianni, Gaetano Aronica
Italia, Usa 2000, 109’
STANNO TUTTI BENE di Giuseppe Tornatore
con Marcello Mastroianni, Michèle Morgan, Salvatore Cascio, Leo Gullotta, Valeria Cavalli, Nicola Di Pinto
Italia, Francia 1990, 125’
UNA PURA FORMALITÀ di Giuseppe Tornatore
con Gérard Depardieu, Roman Polański, Sergio Rubini
Italia, Francia 1998, 108’
RETROSPETTIVA ABDELLATIF KECHICHE
LA FAUTE À VOLTAIRE (TUTTA COLPA DI VOLTAIRE) di Abdellatif Kechiche
con Sami Bouajila, Élodie Bouchez, Bruno Lochet
Francia 2000, 131’
L’ESQUIVE (LA SCHIVATA) di Abdellatif Kechiche
con Osman Elkharraz, Sara Forestier, Sabrina Ouazani, Nanou Benhamou, Hafet Ben-Ahmed
Francia 2003, 117’
LA GRAINE ET LE MULET (COUS COUS) di Abdellatif Kechiche
con Habib Boufares, Hafsia Herzi, Faridah Benkhetache, Abdelhamid Aktouche
Francia 2007, 151’
VÉNUS NOIRE (VENERE NERA) di Abdellatif Kechiche
con Yahima Torrès, Andre Jacobs, Olivier Gourmet, Jonathan Pienaar, Jean-Christophe Bouvet
Francia 2010, 159’
LA VIE D’ADÈLE (LA VITA DI ADELE) di Abdellatif Kechiche
con Léa Seydoux, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechiouche, Mona Walravens, Jérémie Laheurte
Francia 2013, 179’
MEKTOUB, MY LOVE – CANTO UNO di Abdellatif Kechiche
con Shain Boumedine, Ophélie Baufle, Salim Kechiouche, Lou Luttiau, Alexia Chardard
Francia 2017, 185’
FRONTIERE
À BRAS-LE-CORPS (LO SGUARDO DI EMMA) di Marie-Elsa Sgualdo
con Lisa Gueneau, Grégoire Colin, Thomas Doret, Aurélia Petit, Sandrine BlancKe, Sasha Gravat Harsch, Tamara Semelet, Cyril Metzger, Lievke Baartel, Aurelien Patouillard, Etienne Fague
Svizzera, Francia, Belgio 2025, 96’
ORCHESTRA PLURALE di Pierluigi Ferrandini
con Arwa Chikhani, Peter Kasianov, Chavely Suarez – Perez, WU Hsueh-Ju, Rahaf Chikhani, Anastasia Abryutina, Roman Gero, Anila Roshi
Italia 2026, 70’
A MOSQUITO IN THE EAR di Nicola Rinciari
con Nazanin Boniadi, Jake Lacy, Ruhi Pal, Micky Singh
Stati Uniti, India 2026, 90’
DEBRIS/DETRITI di Sergio Racanati
Argentina, Italia 2022, 96’
DOM di Massimiliano Battistella
con Mirela Hodo
Italia, Bosnia 2025, 81’
FILM DI STATO di Roland Sejko
Italia 2025, 78’
HARÀ WATAN (LOST LAND) di Akio Fujimoto
Giappone, Francia, Malesia, Germania 2025, 78’
IL QUIETO VIVERE di Gianluca Matarrese
con Maria Luisa Magno, Imma Capalbo, Carmela Magno, Filomena Magno, Concetta Magno, Andrea Magno, Franco Matarrese, Sergio Turano, Giorgio Pucci
Italia, Svizzera 2025, 87’
LEAVING EDEN (ABBANDONANDO IL PARADISO) di Genc Permeti
con Nikolla Prendi, Kristaq Pilo, Agata Buzek, Daniel Olbrychski
Albania, Polonia, Italia, Kosovo 2026, 89’
NUNS vs THE VATICAN di Lorena Luciano
con Gloria Branciani, Mirjam Kovac, Federica Tourn, Laura Sgrò, Barbara Dorris, Anne Barrett Doyle, Sr. Mary Lembo, Hans Zollner, SJ, John T. Chibnall, Nicole Winfield
Usa, Italia 2025, 91’
ON VOUS CROIT (WE BELIEVE YOU) di Charlotte Devillers, Arnaud Dufeys
con Myriem Akheddiou, Laurent Capelluto, Natali Broods, Ulysse Goffin, Adèle Pinckaers
Belgio 2025, 78’
PALESTINE 36 di Annemarie Jacir
con Saleh Bakri, Hiam Abbass, Jeremy Irons, Liam Cunningham, Karim Daoud, Yafa Bakri, Yasmine Al Massri, Billy Howle, Robert Aramayo
Palestina, Regno Unito, Francia, Stati Uniti, Danimarca, Norvegia 2025, 119
EVENTI SPECIALI
ATTITUDINI: NESSUNA di Sophie Chiarello
con Aldo, Giovanni e Giacomo
Italia 2025, 118’
BOBÒ di Pippo Delbono
Italia 2025, 81’
GUERRIERI – LA REGOLA DELL’EQUILIBRIO di Gianluca Maria Tavarelli
con Alessandro Gassmann, Ivana Lotito, Michele Venitucci, Anita Caprioli, Lea Gavino, Michele Ragno, Stefano Dionisi, Gaetano Bruno, Francesco Colella, Antonia Liskova, Umberto Sardella, Davide Mancini
Italia 2026, ep. 3, 100’
È COME SEMBRA di Anna Foglietta
con Michela Cescon, Cristina Donadio, Anna Foglietta, Maria Cristina Giannetta, Sofia Iacuitto, Paola Minaccioni, Vittoria Puccini, Lidia Ravera, Nicole Rossi, Giovanna Sannino, Vittorio Maggazù, Lorenzo Zurzolo
Italia 2025, 2’ 51’’
LA RAGAZZA CON LA VALIGIA di Valerio Zurlini
con Claudia Cardinale, Jacques Perrin, Romolo Valli, Corrado Pani, Renato Baldini, Luciana Angiolillo, Riccardo Garrone, Gian Maria Volontè, Elsa Albani, Enzo Garinei
Italia, Francia 1961, 113’
LA SALITA di Massimiliano Gallo
con Roberta Caronia, Alfredo Francesco Cossu, Antonio Milo, Shalana Santana, Gianfelice Imparato, Maurizio Casagrande, Massimiliano Gallo e Mariano Rigillo
Italia 2025, 90’
LO SVITATO di Carlo Lizzani
con Dario Fo, Franca Rame, Georgia Moll, Leo Pisani, Alberto Bonucci, Franco Parenti, Riccardo Tassani, Umberto D’Orsi, Carlo Bagno, Antonio Cannas, Cioni Carpi, Giancarlo Cobelli
Italia 1956, 110’
LUNA VERDE di Mario Bucci
Italia 2026, 15’
QUELLA SALETTA SUL MARE di Alessandro Piva
Italia 2026, 12’
UN PROPHÈTE di Enrico Maria Artale
con Sami Bouajila, Hugo Dillon, Ouassini Embarek, Salim Kechiouche, Matthieu Lucci
Francia 2025, ep.1-4 218’, ep. 5-8 226’
VIVA TONDELLI. UNO SCRITTORE DELLE NOSTRE PARTI di Michael Petrolini
con Alberto Bertoni, Enrico Brizzi, Vinicio Capossela, Licia Lanera, Luciano Ligabue, NicoNote, Giulio Tondelli, Massimo Zamboni
Italia 2025, 60’
DOPPIO TESTO
L’ABBAGLIO di Roberto Andò
con Toni Servillo, Salvo Ficarra, Valentino Picone, Tommaso Ragno, Giulia Andò, Leonardo Maltese, Vincenzo Pizzotta
Italia 2025, 131’
Followed by a meeting with Roberto Andò
UNA FINESTRA VISTA LAGO di Marco Pontecorvo
con Stella Wendick, Giacomo Covi, Pietro Giustolesi, Samuel Volturno
Italia 2026, ep. 1, 105’
Followed by a meeting with Marco Pontecorvo e Andrea Vitali
UN ANNO DI SCUOLA di Laura Samani
con Stella Wendick, Giacomo Covi, Pietro Giustolisi, Samuel Volturno
Italia 2025, 102’
Followed by a meeting with Laura Samani e Giacomo Covi
PRIMAVERA di Damiano Michieletto
con Tecla Insolia, Michele Riondino, Andrea Pennacchi, Fabrizia Sacchi
Italia-Francia 2025, 110’
Followed by a meeting with Damiano Michieletto
A SUD
‘A SANTANOTTE di Elvira Notari
Italia 1922, 61’
ELVIRA NOTARI. OLTRE IL SILENZIO di Valerio Ciraci
con Giuliana Bruno, Cristina Vatielli, Flavia Amabile, Francesca Consonni
Italia, Stati Uniti 2025, 89’
IGOR L’EROE ROMANTICO DEL CALCIO di Luca Dal Canto
con Igor Protti, Giuseppe Signori, Fabio Galante, Sandro Tovalieri, Walter Mazzarri, Cristiano Lucarelli, Giorgio Chiellini
Italia 2026, 102’
VITA MIA di Edoardo Winspeare
con Dominique Sanda, Celeste Casciaro
Italia 2024, 125’
NOTTI HORROR
DEMONI di Lamberto Bava
con Natasha Hovey, Urbano Barberini, Fiore Argento, Nicoletta Elmi, Stelio Candelli
Italia 1985, 104’
OPERAZIONE PAURA di Mario Bava
con Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Erika Blanc, Fabienne Dali, Piero Lulli
Italia 1966, 85’
REAZIONE A CATENA di Mario Bava
con Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, Claudio Volonté, Laura Betti, Anna Maria Rosati
Italia 1971, 85’
SEI DONNE PER L’ASSASSINO di Mario Bava
con Eva Bartok, Cameron Mitchell, Thomas Reiner, Arianna Gorini, Mary Arden, Lea Krueger, Claude Dantes, Dante Di Paolo, Massimo Righi, Franco Ressel, Francesca Ungaro, Luciano Pigozzi, Harriet White Medin, Enzo Cerusico
Italia 1964, 84’
THEY WILL KILL YOU (TI UCCIDERANNO) di Kirill Sokolov
con Zazie Beetz, Myha’La, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, Patricia Arquette
Stati Uniti 2026, 94’
TOBY DAMMIT di Federico Fellini
Francia-Italia 43’, 37’
episode from the film TRE PASSI NEL DELIRIO con Terence Stamp
CORTOMETRAGGI – SARÒ BREVE
COMANDO IO di Pierdomenico Minafra
con Francesco Cannone, Piero Rogandelli, Federico Altomare, Gabriel Maselli, Paolo Cassano e Gabriele Ferrara
Italia, 14’
DI PRIMO PELO di Domenico Cicerone
con Daniele Paoloni, Margherita Mannino, Ludovica Rubino
Italia, 19’18’’
EL SANTO di Carlo D’Ursi Fortunato
Spagna, 23’05’
E SOFFIERÒ E SBUFFERÒ E BUTTERÒ GIÙ LA TUA CASA di Fabrizio Fusco
Italia, 13’
GENTE PER BENE di Irene Girotti
con Massimo Ghini, Irene Girotti
Italia, 16’40’’
HOYO EN DOS di Bayron Norman
con Mayra Ermosillo, Héctor Flores, Jorge de los Reyes
Messico, 19’25’’
MADE TO ORDER di Joss Berlioux
con Lola Aubriere
Francia, 3’01’’
LA DERNIÈRE NEIGE di Rodolphe Bouquet-Populus
con Guillaume Pottier, Dinara Drukarova, Philippe Résimont
Francia, 19’35’’
LA PREMIERE MARCHE di Olivier Wright
con Jeanne Hendschel
Francia, 18’
LACERAZIONI di Massimiliano Pacifico
con Sergio Rubini e Ivana Lotito
Italia, 19’
L’ESTRANEO di Federica Corti
con Ilaria Genatiempo, Tommaso Di Marco
Italia, 13’
NOWHERE di Andrea Arcangeli
con Andrea Arcangeli, Giacomo Carraro, Edoardo Natoli
Italia, 18’
SAKURA – LAND OF SYMPHONY di Paolo Doppieri
Italia, 17 min’
STORIA SEMISERIA DI UN PICCIONE VIAGGIATORE di Alessandro Capitani
con Alessandro Haber
Italia, 9’39’’
TWENTYSEVEN: SISTER PORTRAIT (VENTISETTE: RITRATTO DI SORELLA) di Sara Schiavone
con Maria Berini, Lucia Berini, Lara Misiani, Sofia Radovani
Italia, 19’58’’
UN PIEDE NELLA FOSSA di Jozif Gjura
Italia, 12’
SARÒ BREVE – FUORI CONCORSO
ACROSS THE LINE di Vito Palumbo
Italia, 10’50’’
DEAR SILVESTRO di Nico Cirasola
con Rosa Nettis, Tommaso Lillo, Leonardo Silvestro Buttiglione, Matteo Enea Cirasola, Andrea Cirasola, Sofia Eliana Cirasola
Italia, 13’
I’M GLAD YOU’RE DEAD NOW di Tawfeek Barhom
con Tawfeek Barhom, Ashraf Barhom
Palestina, Grecia, Francia, 13’
LA MANCANZA di Lina Sastri
con Lina Sastri e Luigi Iacuzio
Italia, 17’44’’
GUESTS
Maria Pia Ammirati, Roberto Andò, Davide Angiuli, Anouk Andaloro, Andrea Arcangeli, Francesca Archibugi, Enrico Maria Artale, Pupi Avati, Lino Banfi, Alessandro Baricco, Massimiliano Battistella, Anna Bellato, Giulio Beranek, Stefano Bollani, Alessio Boni, Enrico Borello, Andrea Bosca, Barbara Bouchet, Gloria Branciani, Ilir Butka, Gianfranco Cabiddu, Lucia Calamaro, Alessandro Capitani, Sarah Eti Castellani, Pasquale Catalano, Roberta Caronia, Fabrizio Cattani, Elisabetta Cattani Olmi, Valentina Cenni, Mohammed Challouf, Sophie Chiarello, Leonardo Cappelli, Juan Chumilla-Carbajosa, Domenico Cicerone, Matteo Cirasola, Malich Cissè, Francesco Cordio, Paola Cortellesi, Federica Corti, Giacomo Covi, Gianluca Curti, Gloria Giorgianni, Walter Fasano, Elena D’Amario, Carlo D’Ursi Fortunato, Luca Delcanto, Eva Danino, Pippo Delbono, Jenny De Nucci, Riccardo De Rinaldis, Antonella Di Nocera, Biagio Di Terlizzi, Marco Di Ruzza, Claudio Esposito, Isabella Ferrari, Andrea Ferraris, Anna Ferzetti, Brunella Filì, Flora Fiume, Jacopo Fo, Antonella W. Gaeta, Massimiliano Gallo, Alessandro Gassmann, Massimo Ghini, Maria Chiara Giannetta, Irene Girotti, Eimi Imanishi, Tecla Insolia, Hana Jusic, Salim Kechiouche, Mirjam Kovac, Francesco Lagi, Licia Lanera, Margherita Laterza, Doriana Leondeff, Eva Libertad, Ivana Lotito, Luciano Lorena, Gianni Andrea Magno, Maria Luisa Magno, Immacolata Magno Capalbo, Rosa Maietta, Irene Maiorino, Aristotelis Maragkos, Riccardo Marchegiani, Vinicio Marchioni, Vincenzo Marra, Diana Martirosyan, Leonardo Mastromauro, Gianluca Matarrese, Luca Medici (Checco Zalone), Silvia Mei, Nadia Melliti, Damiano Michieletto, Riccardo Milani, Pierdomenico Minafra, Rosario Minervini, Samira Mohyeddin, Alessandro Molinari, Filippo Montalto, Francesco Montalto, Mattia Vlad Morleo, Andamion Murataj, Gennaro Nunziante, Giovanni Orlando, Silvio Orlando, Massimiliano Pacifico, Gianfranco Pannone, Daniele Paoloni, Alessandro Parrello, Luca Pastore, Fotinì Peluso, Genc Permeti, Monica Peruzzi, Michael Petrolini, Franco Piersanti, Emanuela Piovano, Alessandro Piva, Roberto “Pivio” Pischiutta, Michele Placido, Nina Pons, Marco Pontecorvo, Andrea Porporati, Serena Porta, Domenico Procacci, Igor Protti, Isabella Ragonese, Elena Sofia Ricci, Stefania Rocca, Barbara Ronchi, Nicola Roppo, Sergio Rubini, Ludovica Rubino, Laura Samani, Lina Sastri, Vanessa Scalera, Sara Schiavone, Fabio Segatori, Roland Sejko, Daniele Sepe, Laura Sgro, Fatma Sfar, Ahmed Shawky, Raha Shirazi, Kasia Smutniak, Marco Spagnoli, Tamara Stepanyan, Iginio Straffi, Wes Studi, Chiara Tagliaferri, Elhae Tavakolian, Gianluca Maria Tavarelli, Giuseppe Tornatore, Federica Tourn, Francesca Valentini, Michele Venitucci, Yle Yara Vianello, Paolo Virzì, Andrea Vitali, Edoardo Winspeare, Valeria Zanella, Giuseppe Zeno.
JURIES
GIURIA MERIDIANA: Roberto Andò (regista e scrittore, Presidente della giuria Meridiana), Diana Martirosyan (critica cinematografica e giornalista culturale, Armenia), Giovanni Orlando (produttore cinematografico e televisivo, USA), Fatma Sfar (attrice, musicista e performer, Tunisia), Ahmed Shawky (critico cinematografico, Presidente Fripresci, Egitto).
GIURIA PER IL CINEMA ITALIANO: Presidente Stefania Rocca, attrice e regista, più i 25 giurati popolari.
CORTOMETRAGGI: giuria popolare degli spettatori che vedranno i corti in sala e saranno invitati a esprimere le proprie preferenze
THE AWARDS
BIF&ST ‘ARTE DEL CINEMA’ AWARDS
At the Teatro Petruzzelli, the Bif&st “Art of Cinema” Awards: Kasia Smutniak (21 March); Alessandro Baricco (22 March); Elena Sofia Ricci (23 March); Giuseppe Tornatore (24 March); Wes Studi (25 March); Francesca Archibugi (26 March); Domenico Procacci (26 March); Paolo Virzì (27 March); Lino Banfi (28 March); Abdellatif Kechiche (28 March); Luca Medici (28 March); Gennaro Nunziante (28 March).
MERIDIANA AWARDS (to be presented on the evening of 28 March at the Petruzzelli)
Best Film “Franco Cassano” (€5,000 to the production, €5,000 to the Italian distributor), Best Director (€5,000), Best Leading Actor, Best Leading Actress, Best Artistic-Technical Contribution (whether editing, screenplay, production design, cinematography, costumes or sound), Contribution to Italian distribution (€5,000)
AWARDS FOR PER IL CINEMA ITALIANO (to be presented on the evening of 27 March at the Petruzzelli)
Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress
“Damiano Russo” AWARD FOR BEST SHORT FILM (to be presented on the evening of 26 March at the Petruzzelli)
BIF&ST “NICO CIRASOLA” AWARD FOR INDEPENDENT CINEMA
Awarded this year to director Sophie Chiarello for the film Attitudini: Nessuna (25 March)
BIF&ST SAN MARZANO AWARD
to Stefania Rocca (28 March)
BIF&ST AUTOCLUB AWARD FOR BEST DEBUT FILM
to Massimiliano Gallo (22 March)
BIF&ST NUOVA FIERA DEL LEVANTE AWARD
to Alessandro Gassmann (23 March)
BIF&ST CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AWARD
to Iginio Straffi (21 March)
PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION
SEMBRA CH’È PASSATO UN GIORNO.
Voices, stories and images from the romance of Italian cinema
20 March – 21 April 2026 – Palazzo Starita, Bari
In the wake of the memory and history of Italian cinema comes SEMBRA CH’È PASSATO UN GIORNO, an immersive audio-photographic exhibition that invites the public on a journey through time via some of the figures who have shaped the cinematic imagination of the 20th century. It is promoted and organised by the Apulia Film Commission in collaboration with the Fondazione Puglia as part of BIF&ST 2026, under the artistic direction of Oscar Iarussi, and is set in the evocative 18th-century Palazzo Starita in Bari.
Alberto Sordi and Mario Monicelli, Roberto Rossellini and Anna Magnani, Vittorio De Sica, Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Dino Risi and Vittorio Gassman, Michelangelo Antonioni and Monica Vitti, Luchino Visconti and Pier Paolo Pasolini are just some of the leading figures in an artistic community that played a decisive role in shaping the cultural identity of the Republic and in bringing Italian cinema to unprecedented international success. Alongside them, many other key figures — from Nino Manfredi to Ugo Tognazzi, from Valentina Cortese to Gina Lollobrigida, right through to Luigi Comencini and Carlo Lizzani — make up the mosaic of an irreplaceable era.
The exhibition, curated by journalist and film critic Silvio Danese, stems from the idea that the cinema of the last century continues to accompany us like an invisible travelling companion. Through rare photographs, archival materials and sound recordings from public and private collections, the exhibition reconstructs a narrative woven from images, words and memories, bringing the great stars of Italian cinema to life even off-screen, featuring around 200 prints, 40 texts and a montage of voices that guides visitors through the rooms of Palazzo Starita.
Visitors are invited to embark on a veritable audiovisual journey, built around historical prints, photographic archives and recordings drawn from interviews and testimonies of the era. The texts and audio materials on display reveal anecdotes, reflections and memories that capture the cultural energy of post-war Italy.
In the spirit of unconventional research, the exhibition is enriched by a selection of photographs by Paul Ronald (from the Maraldi archive), photographer to Luchino Visconti and of one of Federico Fellini’s most famous sets, 8½, and by the shots of Giuseppe Palmas, the sensitive photojournalist “non-paparazzo” of La Dolce Vita (from the archive of his son Roberto Palmas).
A special section of the exhibition is dedicated to Claudia Cardinale, to whom the festival pays tribute with the poster for the 17th edition, featuring the screen tests taken at the start of her career by Franco Pinna for Franco Cristaldi’s Vides, and the documentary Claudia Cardinale – La plus belle italienne de Tunisi by Mohamed Challouf and Mahmoud Ben Mahmoud, focusing on the actress’s years in Tunisia.
The exhibition’s sound dimension completes the immersive experience: two pieces — Nocturnes Nos. 1 and 7 from Eleven Nocturnes by the New York composer and musicologist Kyle Gann, performed by pianist Emanuele Arciuli — accompany the exhibition route like a musical tapestry that amplifies the evocative power of the journey through time.
The exhibition will open on Friday 20 March (18:30), in the presence of Antonio Castorani, President of the Puglia Foundation; Anna Maria Tosto, President of the Apulia Film Commission; Oscar Iarussi, Artistic Director of Bif&st; and Silvio Danese, curator of the exhibition, and will remain open until Sunday 12 April.
EXHIBITION OPENING HOURS
21–29 March 2026, 10:00–19:00
4–5–6 April 2026, 10:00–19:00
30 March–3 April 2026, 16:00–19:00
7–12 April 2026, 16.00 –19.00
THE HOSTS
The opening night (Saturday 21 March) and the closing night (Saturday 28 March) of the 17th edition of Bif&ST will be hosted by artistic director Oscar Iarussi, alongside Irene Maiorino. A multi-talented actress in film, television and theatre, having played the role of Lila in the final season of L’Amica Geniale, she is part of the cast of Marco Bellocchio’s Portobello on HBO Max and will soon appear in the Netflix series La scuola directed by Ivan Silvestrini, as well as on the big screen as Grazia Deledda in Peter Marcias’s Quasi Grazia.
The Rosso Di Sera events are directed by Alessandro Piva.
Presenters and/or introducers for the other sections of the festival:
Luigi Abiusi, Massimo Causo, Concetta Cavallini, Francesco Costantini, Livio Costarella, Silvio Danese, Roberto De Feo, Steve Della Casa, Alessandra De Luca, Piera Detassis, Lea Durante, Marzia Gandolfi, Carlo Gentile, Silvia Lorusso, Anton Giulio Mancino, Matteo Marelli, Paolo Mereghetti, Annamaria Minunno, Angela Prudenzi, Ugo Sbisà, Chiara Tagliaferri.
SCHOOLS AT BIF&ST
Bif&st 2026 reaffirms and strengthens its collaboration with universities, schools and educational institutions, making this a cornerstone and essential feature of the event; it stimulates young people’s curiosity about other worlds and enhances their critical thinking skills, placing the ‘audience of tomorrow’ at the centre of attention.
Partnerships with the Regional Education Office for Puglia, the University of Bari, the Polytechnic University of Bari, the Niccolò Piccinni Conservatory and the Academy of Fine Arts in Bari consolidate the positive relationship established with the student community, in the belief that initiatives of this nature can support the significant educational and training work carried out daily by these institutions.
The initiative undertaken with the Regional Education Office has received an extraordinary response from schools across Puglia.
More than 40 schools, from all six provinces of the region, have expressed their interest, and the participants – comprising students and accompanying teachers – attending the various festival events will number over 2,000.
Meanwhile, at the Niccolò Piccinni Conservatory of Music, the workshop “Elementi di musica applicata alle immagini” (reserved for students) will be held, along with a final masterclass, “Noi siamo le colonne – viaggio all’interno della musica applicata alle immagini”, open to the public and curated by Roberto Pischiutta, known professionally as Pivio, alongside other exceptional lecturers such as Pasquale Catalano and Alessandro Molinari.
The collaboration with the University spans a wide range of areas: dedicated training initiatives through active involvement in the various stages of the festival’s organisation; a media partnership with Radio Uniba; and a programme of events involving students.
Furthermore, the University of Bari and the Polytechnic University of Bari have selected a group of their students to participate in the People’s Jury for the competitive section “Per il Cinema Italiano”.
The Academy of Fine Arts in Bari will be present with a delegation of students who will be hosted for an event across all sections of the festival.
FUORI BIF&ST
Once again this year, the City of Bari is organising ‘Fuori Bif&st’. Hundreds of events scattered throughout the city. From decorated shop windows to meetings, from musical events to literary presentations, from shop windows decked out in a cinematic theme to the streets brought to life with a cinematic theme. The programme for Fuori Bif&st will be announced shortly by the City of Bari.
FESTIVAL VENUES AND ACCESS INFORMATION
TEATRO PETRUZZELLI
FILM SCREENINGS
Free admission without booking, subject to availability.
AFTERNOON EVENTS
Free admission, subject to availability
22/03 at 17:00 and 26/03 at 17:00 – admission €3.00
ROSSO DI SERA
Numbered seats:
€12 stalls and boxes I-II-III;
€6 boxes V and gallery;
24/03 at 8.30 pm: €20 stalls and boxes I-II-III, €10 boxes V and gallery.
Tickets go on sale on Saturday 14 March at 11.00, online via the Vivaticket network and at the Teatro Petruzzelli box office, open Tuesday to Saturday from 11.00 to 19.00; Sunday from 10.00 to 13.00; Monday from 10.00 to 14.00
Box office opening hours during the festival:
Saturday 21 March from 11.00 to 20.45
Sunday 22 and Monday 23 March from 16.00 to 20.45
Tuesday 24 March from 11.00 to 21.15
Wednesday 25 to Friday 27 March from 11.00 to 20.45
Saturday 28 March from 11.00 to 19.15
TEATRO KURSAAL SANTALUCIA
MERIDIANA COMPETITION
RETROSPETTIVA KECHICHE
DOPPIO TESTO
Free admission without booking, subject to availability.
MULTICINEMA GALLERIA
Free events:
PER IL CINEMA ITALIANO COMPETITION
SARÒ BREVE SHORT FILM COMPETITION
RETROSPETTIVA TORNATORE
EVENTI SPECIALI 22/03 10.30 Screen 4; 25/03 10.30 Screen 1; 27/03 12.00 Screen 6
NOTTI HORROR 24/03 21.00 Screen 1
To access free events, you may only collect tickets for the current day at the “Free Events” ticket offices.
The “Free Events” ticket offices are open from Saturday 21 March to Friday 27 March, from 9.00 to 13.00 and from 15.00 to 21.00.
Each person may collect a maximum of two tickets for the current day, as follows:
- two tickets for the same event
or alternatively
- two tickets for two different events
A ticket is required for entry to the cinema. Admission is permitted subject to availability.
Paid events:
FRONTIERE
EVENTI SPECIALI
NOTTI HORROR
Ticket: €3.00
To attend paid events, tickets can be purchased at the “Paid Events” box office at Multicinema Galleria or online (via the Multicinema Galleria website or app) from Friday 20 March at 15.30.
The “Paid Events” box office is open:
- Friday 20 March from 15.30 to 21.00
- from Saturday 21 March to Friday 27 March, from 9.00 to 13.00 and from 15.00 to 21.00.
The cost of a single ticket is €3.00 (plus a €0.50 booking fee for online purchases).
ANCHECINEMA MULTIPURPOSE THEATRE
A SUD
Ticket: €3.00 (plus a €0.50 booking fee).
Tickets can be purchased at the AncheCinema box office or online (www.anchecinema.com, Vivaticket network) from Friday 20 March at 15.00.
The box office is open:
- Friday 20 March from 15.00 to 18.00
- from Saturday 21 March to Friday 27 March, from 9.00 to 13.00 and from 15.00 to 18.00.
CINEMA IL PICCOLO
Free admission without booking, subject to availability
CIRCOLO DELLA VELA, Teatro Margherita (Piazza IV Novembre, 2)
IL SEGRETO DELL’ATTRICE
Free admission without booking, subject to availability
NICCOLÒ PICCINNI CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC
WORKSHOP ELEMENTI DI MUSICA APPLICATA ALLE IMMAGINI
Reserved for students of the Niccolò Piccini Conservatory of Music
MASTERCLASS NOI SIAMO LE COLONNE – VIAGGIO ALL’INTERNO DELLA MUSICA APPLICATA ALLE IMMAGINI
Led by: Roberto Giacomo Pischiutta (aka Pivio), Alessandro Molinari and Pasquale Catalano.
In collaboration with the Niccolò Piccinni Conservatory of Music
Free admission without booking, subject to availability.