From 5-11 October, Genoa is hosting the sixth edition of FLIGHT – Genoa International Film Festival, an increasingly well-established event on the Italian festival scene thanks to its original and innovative approach. The guest of honour will be Polish master Krzysztof Zanussi, who will be celebrated with a retrospective and a master class on 8 October at Palazzo Ducale.

Among this year’s novelties are free admission to all Genoese venues, the expansion of the programme to seven days and the relaunch of the Volo in Liguria section, now turned into a competitive strand with the support of Fondazione Carige. The section will also feature a retrospective dedicated to Giovanna Puggioni, a Genoa-born artist and filmmaker who passed away ten years ago.

The International Competition received 411 submissions from 51 countries (a 24% increase compared to 2024), from which 85 titles were selected - including 40 for the competitive sections and 15 for Volo in Liguria. The jury, composed of Ross Lipman, Claire Angelini, Sara Fgaier, Fabrizio Ferraro and Roberto Rossini, will hand out the Pigeon Flying Grand Prix (worth €2,500 and a sculpture by Paolo Lorenzo Parisi).

Highlights of the special events include the presentation of Weightless [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Sara Fgaier
fiche film] by Sara Fgaier (in competition at Locarno 2024), a tribute to experimental filmmaker Nicolas Rey, and the restored screening of Smog (1962), the first Italian film shot in Los Angeles, curated by UCLA and the Cineteca di Bologna. Moreover, Ross Lipman will present two rare works: The Book of Paradise Has No Author and The Innerview.

FLIGHT is organised by the Associazione 28 Dicembre, with the support of Fondazione Carige, the Genoa Chamber of Commerce, the Liguria Region and MiC, in collaboration with several Italian and international institutions, including Palazzo Ducale, Paris Expérimental, the Dovzhenko Centre (Kyiv) and the FEAE Festival (Paris). The full programme is available here.