Laceno d’Oro International Film Festival
Avellino, 3 – 10 dicembre 2023
The 48th edition kicks off on December 3rd with over 70 films, 3 competitions,
meetings with authors, concerts, masterclasses and workshops
The legendary American filmmaker Paul Schrader to be awarded the “Laceno d’Oro” Lifetime Achievement Award
Preview of his latest film Master Gardener (8 December)
The Master of French social cinema Robert Guédiguian will open the Festival
Lifetime Achievement Award “Pier Paolo Pasolini”
Preview of Et la fête continue! (December 3)
2 world premieres
15 national previews
in the various sections
Many young authors and many special guests in the jury: Alessandro Comodin with the film Gigi la legge and Gianluca Matarrese with L’Expérience Zola
Music preview of VisionAria live (December 10)
Awards ceremony
10 December 7.30pm – Cinema Partenio
Avellino, December 1, 2023 – The 48th edition of Laceno d’Oro International Film Festival in Avellino kicks off on Sunday, December 3, running until December 10 at Cinema Partenio (Via Giuseppe Verdi, 50), with screenings also at Movieplex in Mercogliano (AV) and events in other locations throughout the city (free admission). The festival features over 70 screenings and premieres from around the world, selected among the most recent and interesting independent and research productions, in homage to its founder Pier Paolo Pasolini.
The honoured guest and recipient of the 2023 Career Achievement Award is the renowned American film-maker Paul Schrader. The director, awarded the Golden Lion for Career Achievement in 2022, will conduct an open masterclass for the public on Friday, December 8, at 6:00 PM, followed by the awarding of the prestigious recognition from the Irpinian festival. After the award ceremony, Schrader will present his latest work, “Master Gardener,” to be released in Italian theatres on December 14 with Movies Inspired. The festival will also dedicate a retrospective to the director featuring five additional movies.
On December 3, Robert Guédiguian, a master of social and political cinema from beyond the Alps, will be honored with the “Pier Paolo Pasolini” Career Achievement Award during an evening of tribute at Movieplex in Mercogliano (AV), following his masterclass at 6:00 PM in the Ex Cinema Eliseo in Avellino (Via Roma, 1).
Guédiguian is also the focus of a retrospective featuring four works, including his latest movie, “Et la fête continue!” The festival will wrap up on December, 10 at Cinema Partenio with the award ceremony and the winners of the three international competitions: “Laceno d’Oro 48”, “Gli occhi sulla città”, and “Spazio Campania.” Starting this year, the latter prize will be dedicated to the prematurely deceased young director Chiara Rigione.
Competing for the “Laceno d’Oro 48” prize are 10 films, including six national premieres: “Cidade Rabat” by Susana Nobre (France and Portugal); “At Night, The Red Sky” by Ali Razi (Iran and France); “A Batalha da Rua Maria Antônia” by Vera Egito (Brazil); “Samsara” by Lois Patiño (Spain); “Facing Darkness” by Jean-Gabriel Périot (France, Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina); and “Whispering Mountains” by Jagath Manuwarna (Sri Lanka). The jury includes the artistic director of the La Roche-sur-Yon International Film Festival and director Charlotte Serrand, film critic Daniele Dottorini, and director Alessandro Comodin.
In the running for “Gli occhi sulla città” are 25 short films exploring themes of urban spaces, the environment, and landscape, including the world premiere of “Wundermediterraneankammer” by Carlo Michele Schirinzi (Italy). The winner will be chosen by director Gianluca Matarrese, artistic director of Sicilia Queer filmfest Andrea Inzerillo, and director Salka Tiziana.
For “Spazio Campania,” dedicated to productions from the Campania region, 11 works will be judged by film critic Domenico Saracino, programmer and director Adelaide De Fino, and director Elio Di Pace.
The winning works will receive cash prizes of Euro 3000 for features and documentaries, euro 1500 for shorts, and Euro 1,000 for “Spazio Campania.” Audience Awards will also be presented by the People’s Jury for the “Laceno d’Oro 48” and “Spazio Campania” sections. This year, the festival introduces the Supercinema Award, recognizing achievements in film artistic direction. A Design Award for 360° Cinema, covering set design, interior solutions, and on-screen text and titles, will also be presented.
The program includes an “Out of Competition” section with titles such as “Mi fanno male i capelli” by Roberta Torre, winner of the “Monica Vitti” Best Actress Award to Alba Rohrwacher, “1048 Lunes” by Charlotte Serrand in Italian premiere, “Gigi la legge” by Alessandro Comodin, “El Paraiso” by Enrico Maria Artale, and the special event on December 6, “L’Expérience Zola” by Gianluca Matarrese, followed by a concert by Cantautoma, who composed the soundtrack.
One of the most anticipated events is the experimental live performance “VisionAria,” making its national debut. Conceived by musician Alessandro D’Alessandro, winner of the Targa Tenco (Best Dialect Album) for the album ‘Canti, ballate ed ipocondrie d’ammore’ (Squilibri), created in collaboration with Canio Loguercio, and visual artist Gianluca Abbate. The event is scheduled for December 10 at Cinema Partenio. The live visuals by Gianluca Abbate, accompanying the music and sounds of Alessandro D’Alessandro, aim to blend different eras and styles through various techniques ranging from cut-out to animated collage. The fusion of tradition and modernity, in line with the music, utilizing computer graphics, live shots, scenes from other films, archive footage, and a mix of colours and black-and-white, will bring the visual narrative to life.
The festival also emphasizes cultural education through the language of cinema with “Laceno d’Oro Scuola,” featuring four matinées at Cinema Partenio dedicated to high school students in Avellino.
This edition’s program also includes a retrospective dedicated to German cinema, in collaboration with ACIT (Italo-German Cultural Association), including directors who have shaped the evolution of cinematographic art from the 1970s, such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Werner Herzog, to contemporary figures like Christian Petzold.
Laceno d’Oro International Film Festival is organized by Circolo ImmaginAzione of Avellino, chaired by Antonio Spagnuolo, with artistic direction by Maria Vittoria Pellecchia in collaboration with Aldo Spiniello, Sergio Sozzo, Leonardo Lardieri, and Martina Zigiotti.
The festival is supported by the Campania Region and the Campania Film Commission, with contributions and patronage from the Directorate-General for Cinema and Audiovisuals – Ministry of Culture, patronage from the Province of Avellino and the Municipality of Avellino, and collaboration with Sentieri Selvaggi, Quaderni di Cinemasud, Eikon, CFCC, Afic.
Main sponsors: Pasta Armando, Confindustria Avellino, ASD Scandone, MAGMA, Consorzio di tutela dei vini d’Irpinia. With the support of ACIT, Sanfilippo & Partners, DAG Auto, Multisala Partenio, Roulette Agency, Movieplex Mercogliano, Amica Pubblicità. Media partner: Orticalab.
The detailed festival program is available on www.lacenodoro.it
History of Laceno D’Oro Festival
Laceno d’Oro International Film Festival in Avellino is among the most important festivals dedicated to “cinema del reale” in Italy. It was founded in 1959 by Pier Paolo Pasolini and the Irpinian intellectuals Camillo Marino and Giacomo D’Onofrio. Sponsored by the magazine “Cinemasud,” it began as a film award and linked its name to one of the most beautiful locations in the province of Avellino, the Altopiano del Laceno (Bagnoli), with the aim of promoting it from a tourist perspective and intending to serve as recognition for the best films inspired by Neorealism. Since that year until 1988, twenty-eight editions followed, interrupted only by the earthquake of the ‘80s.
After the initial editions in Bagnoli, Laceno d’Oro moved to Avellino and its immediate surroundings, where, in the second half of the 1960s and the early 1970s, the event further developed, presenting socially and civically engaged cinema. It transformed into an International Festival in 1975, hosting films from around the world, with a focus on those from Eastern countries, Indian and Vietnamese Orient, Latin America, and the Third World. The jury included important figures in journalism, cinema, and literature: Domenico Rea, Cesare Zavattini, Carlo Lizzani, Marcello Gatti, Lina Wertmüller, Giuliano Montaldo, Luigi Zampa, Tinto Brass, and many other prestigious filmmakers and intellectuals.
After the forced stop in 1988, linked to the profound transformations following the Irpinia earthquake and the historical changes of those years, the Laceno d’Oro International Film Festival was reborn in the early 2000s thanks to the Cinema Culture Association “Immaginazione,” along with the establishment of the Camillo Marino Award and the Giacomo D’Onofrio Award. Since 2014, the festival has taken the form it has today: three official competitions, two of which are international, two career awards (Laceno d’Oro and Pier Paolo Pasolini), masterclasses, and retrospectives dedicated to award-winning authors.
Among the authors who have received the award are Ettore Scola, Gillo Pontecorvo, Aurelio Grimaldi, Antonietta De Lillo, Vincenzo Marra, Ken Loach, the brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Daniele Gaglianone, Marco Bellocchio, Laurent Cantet, Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Olivier Assayas, Jia Zhangke, Abel Ferrara, Amir Naderi, Antonio Capuano, Miguel Gomes, Julio Bressane, Aleksey German jr, Stéphane Brizé, Pedro Costa, Carlos Reygadas, Franco Maresco, Jonas Carpignano, Edoardo De Angelis, Renato Carpentieri, Elia Suleiman, Alexandr Sokurov.
