Mediterranean, Meridian, Maritime: these are the “three Ms” guiding the new artistic endeavour embarked upon by the BIF&ST - Bari International Film&Tv Festival, which is directed by journalist and film critic Oscar Iarussi for the very first time this year. Founded and spearheaded for 15 years by Felice Laudadio (whom BIF&ST will be honouring with an award), the festival’s 16th edition will focus on the identity of its host city, a “seaport” which is also a place symbolic of economic and cultural exchange, and of hospitality and cooperation between peoples and communities. The result is a programme which has been put together in just a few months (Iarussi was appointed director back in October) but which is no less full-bodied for it, offering up 140 events over a seven-day period, 125 films showing in world, European and Italian premieres, and meetings, retrospectives and tributes, all in the name of a “bridging edition” which looks to strengthen international relations.

The beating heart of the new Bif&st is the Meridiana competition, which consists of 12 titles (and two more screening out of competition) hailing from countries within the Mediterranean region and boasting melting-pot-status in their production, starting with Ameer Fakher Eldin’s opening film Yunan [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], which competed in the most recent Berlinale, and continuing with Lo que queda de ti by Gala Gracia, which flies a Spanish-Portuguese-Italian flag, Arcadia [+lire aussi :
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interview : Yorgos Zois
fiche film] by Yorgos Zois, Waterdrop [+lire aussi :
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interview : Robert Budina
fiche film] by Robert Budina, The Vanishing [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Karim Moussaoui, Come Closer by Tom Nesher (Israel/Italy), Macedonia’s Everybody Calls Redjo by Ibër Deari, (Y)our Mother [+lire aussi :
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interview : Samira El Mouzghibati
fiche film] by Samira El Mouzghibati, Mikado [+lire aussi :
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interview : Baya Kasmi et Félix Moati
fiche film] by Baya Kasmi and Egypt’s The Inevitable Journey To Find A Wedding Dress by Jaylan Auf. There are also the Italian titles Afrodite and La guerra di Cesare by Stefano Lorenzi and Sergio Scavio respectively, and, out of competition, Happy Holidays [+lire aussi :
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interview : Scandar Copti
fiche film] by Scandar Copti and Sempre [+lire aussi :
interview : Luciana Fina
fiche film] by Luciana Fina. A jury led by French-Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun is set to judge the Meridian section’s movies.

The other competition unfolding in Bif&st 2025 is dedicated to Italian film and will be judged by a popular jury presided over by director Costanza Quatriglio. Stealing focus among the 10 titles set to compete (plus the four screening out of competition) are L’infinito by Umberto Contarello (who wrote The Great Beauty [+lire aussi :
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interview : Paolo Sorrentino
fiche film]), The Rhine Gold [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Lorenzo Pullega, Fratelli di culla [+lire aussi :
interview : Alessandro Piva
fiche film] by Alessandro Piva, and Per amore di una donna [+lire aussi :
interview : Guido Chiesa
fiche film] by Guido Chiesa, in addition to the Italian-Slovenian film I colori della tempesta (aka Pasquale Rotondi, un eroe italiano) by Roberto Dordit, and Pier Paolo Paganelli’s Italian-Belgian movie Incanto.

The Rosso di Sera section, revolving around evening-time premieres at the Petruzzelli Theatre, will open with Silvio Soldini’s hotly anticipated work The Tasters [+lire aussi :
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interview : Silvio Soldini
fiche film], based on Rosella Postorino’s eponymous novel translated into more than 40 languages. The selection further includes Beating Hearts [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Gilles Lellouche, Auction by Pascal Bonitzer, Una figlia [+lire aussi :
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interview : Ivano De Matteo
fiche film] by Ivano De Matteo and, in the closing slot, actress Greta Scarano’s directorial debut La vita da grandi [+lire aussi :
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fiche film]. Each of these evening premieres will be preceded by an awarding of the Bif&st “Art of Film” Lifetime Achievement Prize, to Nanni Moretti (who’s also the focus of a 14-film retrospective), Monica Guerritore, Francesca Comencini, Sergio Rubini, Alberto Barbera, Isabella Ferrari and Carlo Verdone, with each of these victors also headlining the Film Meetings taking place in the Petruzzelli Theatre each morning.

Pomeriggio al Petruzzelli, for its part, will showcase works along the lines of the first two episodes of Fuochi d’artificio, the TV series directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli which is set in the Piedmont Alps in 1944, while an array of special events featuring old and new titles are scheduled to round off the line-up, together with the Frontiers section which will tell stories about often conflict-ridden borders; cinema-literature crossovers; films from the Italian South and from the southern hemisphere; a focus on production company A24, and a substantial selection of short films.