14/11/2025 - Everything is ready for the 26th edition of the festival, running from 15-22 November, with ten films in competition, documentaries, and honourees Lars Von Trier and Saverio Costanzo

“Ten works from across Europe that each, with their own distinctive voices, probe the cracks in love, family and personal identity.” This is how the 26th Lecce European Film Festival, set to run from 15-22 November in the Salento capital, presents this year’s Golden Olive Tree Competition, featuring films from France, Austria, Germany and the UK through to Iceland, also taking in Spain, Portugal, Belgium and the Balkans. The movies have been selected by director Alberto La Monica and Luigi La Monica.

Many of the competing pictures question the contemporary family and its inherent silences. Among them are Out of Love [+see also:
film review
interview: Nathan Ambrosioni
film profile] by Nathan Ambrosioni, The Love That Remains [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Hlynur Pálmason
film profile] by Hlynur Pálmason and The Luminous Life [+see also:
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interview: João Rosas
film profile] by João Rosas. Other titles bravely address invisible wounds, such as The Pupil by Karin Junger; a look at the dramatic phenomenon of manipulation and abuse of minors, When a River Becomes the Sea [+see also:
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interview: Pere Vilà Barceló
film profile] by Pere Vilà Barceló; and What Marielle Knows [+see also:
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interview: Frédéric Hambalek
film profile] by Frédéric Hambalek. Several works then veer into the terrain of loneliness and alienation: Yugo Florida [+see also:
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interview: Vladimir Tagić
film profile] by Vladimir Tagić (Heart of Sarajevo Best Actor Award for lead Andrija Kuzmanović) and White Snail [+see also:
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interview: Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter
film profile] by Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter, as well as The Son and the Sea [+see also:
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interview: Stroma Cairns, Imogen West
film profile] by Stroma Cairms, and Vitrival [+see also:
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interview: Noëlle Bastin, Baptiste Bog…
film profile] by Noëlle Bastin and Baptiste Bogaert. Judging the feature competition will be a jury chaired by Danish producer Lene Borglum, and composed of Marco Giusti, Dubravka Lakic, Paolo Strippoli and Olena Yershova.

The star of European cinema at this edition is Danish filmmaker Lars Von Trier, to whom a retrospective of his most representative movies is dedicated, while the star of Italian cinema is Saverio Costanzo, with screenings of his six features on the agenda. Both will receive the Golden Olive Tree Lifetime Achievement Award. Among the special out-of-competition events are a screening of Breve storia d’amore by Ludovica Rampoldi (opening film), 40 Seconds [+see also:
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film profile] by Vincenzo Alfieri, recently rewarded at the Rome Film Fest, and From Ground Zero [+see also:
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film profile] by Rashid Masharawi. The Lecce European Film Festival will also present the finalist films for the 2026 LUX Audience Award (read about the nominees here) and the short films nominated for the 2025 European Film Awards.

Also returning this year is the Cinema & Reality section, devoted to Italian documentary cinema that explores life, memory and the places of our time. Among the selected titles are Elvira Notari: Beyond Silence [+see also:
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film profile] by Valerio Ciraci; We Are the Forest Enclosed by the Wall by Austrian filmmaker Oliver Ressler, which documents the civil struggle that led to the safeguarding of the last remaining forest in Salento; and Nyumba by Francesco Del Grosso, which follows the stories of five migrants who arrived in Cutro, amid pain, memory and a desire for the future. Rounding off the programme are the Fondazione Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia Showcase, with the presentation of Costanza Quatriglio’s documentary Note al centro, celebrating the foundation’s 90th anniversary; the Puglia Show short-film competition, reserved for young Apulian directors; and the Emidio Greco Award for Best Short Film, aimed at a young Italian filmmaker (aged up to 35).

Lastly, the five finalists for the 16th edition of the Mario Verdone Prize, dedicated to an Italian debuting filmmaker who has distinguished themselves over the past season, are Christian Filippi for My Birthday [+see also:
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film profile], Sara Petraglia for L’albero [+see also:
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film profile], Edgardo Pistone for Ciao bambino [+see also:
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interview: Edgardo Pistone
film profile], Greta Scarano for Siblings [+see also:
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film profile] and Giovanni Tortorici for Nineteen [+see also:
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trailer
film profile].

(Translated from Italian)