Once again, Pisticci will become an international Babylon, a place of encounter and dialogue between different cultures, languages and visions, finding through cinema a creative and inclusive synthesis.

This year’s theme is “The Sense of Guilt”, a universal feeling, whether experienced on a personal or collective level, which will run throughout the entire programme — from cinema to performing arts — inviting us to question our time, its responsibilities and its contradictions.
An important new feature of the 2026 edition concerns the artistic direction: as usual, the festival will be led by Rocco Calandriello, joined by filmmaker Hana Makhmalbaf and, this year, also by actress Marianna Fontana.

Following the journey of the CinePasseggiate, organised in collaboration with FAI Basilicata, APT Basilicata, Lucana Film Commission and Slow Food, which involved hundreds of participants in discovering the local territory through cinema, the festival preview will take place on Sunday 2 August with the traditional sunrise concert at the mouth of the Cavone River on the Ionian Sea.

The event will feature artists Liron Meyuhas (Israel) and Arezoo (Iran), offering a symbolic tribute to the Mediterranean — a geographical, cultural and political crossroads that has always been at the heart of the festival’s vision and programming.
On 3 August, in Matera, the world premiere of the walking performance “The Great Funerals of the Mediterranean” will be presented. The project is funded by the Anna Lindh Foundation within the framework of the call for Matera Mediterranean Capital of Dialogue and Culture 2026, with the patronage of the City of Matera and the Matera-Basilicata 2019 Foundation.

It is a narrative journey through the heart of the Sassi, dedicated to Hassan Al-Wazzan (known as Leo Africanus), Sayed Darwish and Samia Yusuf Omar, accompanied by musical performances by Nancy Mounir (Egypt), Reda Zine (Morocco) and Rocco Mentissi.

On 4 August, another key moment of this edition will begin: the LFF OFF International programme with the Metro Manila Film Festival, welcoming an institutional and cinematographic delegation from the Philippines.
For the occasion, in Tolve, the award-winning film “I’m Perfect” — starring young actors with disabilities — will be screened in the presence of its protagonists.

The same day will also be dedicated to the International Network Saint Rocco, the first international network of municipalities devoted to Saint Rocco, symbolically proclaimed Patron Saint of Cinema, with the participation of civil, religious and institutional authorities.
The initiative is organised in collaboration with the “Francesco Mentissi” Musical and Cultural Association – Tolve Band and under the patronage of the City of Tolve.
 
The festival programme will enter its full dimension in Pisticci on Wednesday 5 August with the beginning of the new section, “School of Festival”, dedicated to the educational world and centred around the CIPS programme. This will be followed by the official presentation of the festival programme, featuring a rich calendar of events and guests, with the extraordinary participation of 45 filmmakers in competition, selected from more than 3,500 works submitted and reviewed for the international and national sections.

The opening talk will feature actress Maria Chiara Giannetta, recognised as a testimonial for accessibility thanks to her commitment in the television series Blanca.
The day will in fact mark the beginning of the festival’s programme dedicated to accessibility in the audiovisual sector, including workshops, audio descriptions, inclusive cultural visits and activities designed for blind and visually impaired audiences.

Among the special events is the screening of “Persepolis”, presented with Iranian guests and in an audio-described version promoted by Artis for people with visual disabilities. This will be followed by a reading performance by Italian-Palestinian actress Dalal Suleiman, accompanied by Egyptian musician Nancy Mounir.
The following days will feature meetings with, among others, filmmaker Alessandro Cassigoli, Algerian director Karim Traïdia, actor Fortunato Cerlino, and filmmaker Marco Tullio Giordana, who for many years has chosen to stay away from red carpets, interviews and the world of celebrity.

On 6 August, the new cycle of professional meetings, the “Matinée Lucane”, will begin. These workshops are dedicated to the dialogue between cinema, universities and industry and will take place in the prestigious setting of Essenza – Amaro Lucano 1894 Business Museum.
During this occasion, the first edition of the National Award for University Theses on Cinema in Southern Italy will be presented. The initiative is promoted in collaboration with the Film Commissions of Basilicata, Puglia, Campania and Calabria, together with the Universities of Basilicata, Salerno, Salento and Calabria.

The Matinée Lucane will also host other professional meetings, including one focused on development policies for the audiovisual sector, with the participation of the Italian Ministry of Culture and Bruno Zambardino, Head of EU Affairs, Cinema for Schools Plan and Italy for Movies, together with representatives of educational institutions.

Another important return will be the Secret Programme, a section in which two foreign films — both European premieres — selected by renowned Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf will only be revealed at the moment of screening, in the presence of the directors themselves.
On 7 August, an international discussion on the theme of “The Sense of Guilt” will take place, bringing together Italian and international filmmakers, journalists and intellectuals.

The meeting will be moderated by Francesco Cancellato, Director of the online newspaper fanpage.it. As part of the Book Corner, Cancellato will also present his latest book, “Il Nemico dentro” (The Enemy Within), focusing on the Paragon case, of which the author himself was a victim.
In this context, after a long journey across Northern and Southern Italy, the Sudario dei bambini palestinesi (Shroud of Palestinian Children) will arrive at the festival: a 25-metre white cloth bearing the names of 18,457 young victims, becoming a symbol of pain, memory and a call for peace.

The initiative is realised in collaboration with the Carnaia for Peace collective. The Lucania Film Festival is the only film festival hosting a stop of the Shroud’s journey, transforming public space into a place for reflection and collective participation.

One of the most anticipated events of this edition, on 8 August, will be the production forum between Italy, the Philippines and Algeria, together with the awarding of the San Rocco Universal Award – Patron Saint of Cinema to filmmaker Marco Tullio Giordana.
On this occasion, the festival will also screen his masterpiece film “The Hundred Steps” (I Cento Passi). The award, an original artwork by the Italian master Mimmo Paladino and personally presented by the artist, represents a unique recognition worldwide. It is promoted by the international community of Saint Rocco, which brings together Italian and international cities in the name of the patron saint.

The Lucania Film Festival 2026 will conclude on Sunday 9 August with a series of major performances and musical events.

Among these, special attention will be given to the space dedicated to the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra, which welcomes 14 musicians from the Sound Passages project of Lampedusa, and to the evocative collective ritual “The Great Funerals of the Calanchi”, dedicated to Pier Paolo Pasolini.

This large-scale theatrical and musical action will be accompanied by the historic Tolve Band and by some of the most authoritative voices of Italian cinema and theatre, including co-artistic director Marianna Fontana.

“Festivals must continue to tell the story of the world by anticipating geopolitical changes,” explains Artistic Director Rocco Calandriello, “because they are able to perceive the signals coming from the margins of the world, from places and people who too often remain invisible.

It would be enough to experience the Lucania Film Festival and explore its cinematic and cultural programme — which is not made up simply of shows or events, but of visions and languages in dialogue with one another — to understand what may happen in the coming years and to interpret what is happening today.

This is possible thanks to the filmmakers and authors who, through their work and sometimes by putting their own freedom or even their lives at risk, continue to tell reality without compromise, and choose the Lucania Film Festival as a place to do so. This year, their presence will be extraordinarily significant.

We therefore have the responsibility to listen to these voices and to provide them with a space. A film festival cannot remain neutral in the face of the complexity of the present: it must take on the cultural responsibility of welcoming doubt, dialogue and dissent.

Italian cinema itself must rediscover the courage to be bold and regain its role on the international stage; it must free itself from a certain self-referential attitude and stop pursuing only commercial or production-driven logics.

Lucania Film Festival 2026 thus confirms its role as a place where cinema becomes a tool for understanding the present, connecting cultures and giving visibility to stories that too often remain unheard.