Cinema Made in Italy will return to BFI Southbank from 4-8 March 2026, enabling audiences to “sample some of the best recent productions from Italy, in a diverse and enticing programme”.
Screenings will be followed by filmmaker Q&A sessions, giving viewers the chance to become engaged in lively discussions.
The 2026 programme includes 10 new Italian films plus the 1959 classic title The Facts of Murder (Un Maledetto Imbroglio), directed by Pietro Germi. Four titles in the line-up are directed by female filmmakers.
The opening night film is renowned opera director Damiano Michieletto’s first feature, Primavera, starring Tecla Insolia and Michele Riondino, recently seen in Bille August’s miniseries adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo.
The film had its world premiere at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival and will be distributed in the UK by Curzon Film on 24 April 2026.
The screenplay was co-written with Ludovica Rampoldi, one of Italy’s leading screenwriters, known for The Traitor and Gomorrah.
Rampoldi will also be presenting her directorial debut, A Brief Affair (Breve Storia d’Amore), starring Valeria Golino (The Morning Show).
The award-winning actress is the lead in Mario Martone’s literary biopic Fuori, about noted Italian feminist writer and political activist Goliarda Sapienza (author of The Art of Joy), which screened in competition at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival, and Nicolangelo Gelormini’s dark fable Gioia (La Gioia), which was in the Venice International Film Festival’s Venice Days section.
Two other titles which had their premieres on the Venice Lido are Elisa, directed by Leonardo Di Costanzo, and Laura Samani’s well-received second film A Year of School (Un Anno di Scuola).
Another debut feature in the line-up is Margherita Spampinato’s Sweetheart (Gioia Mia), which premiered at the 78th Locarno Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize and lead actress Aurora Quattrocchi was awarded the Pardo for Best Performance.
Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis bring their playful Euro-Western Heads or Tails? (Testa o Croce?) starring John C. Reilly, which screened to critical acclaim in this year’s Un Certain Regard strand in Cannes, along with Francesco Sossai’s soulful gem The Last One for the Road (Le Città di Pianura), which will be released in the UK by Bulldog Film Distribution in spring 2026.
Three Goodbyes (Tre Ciotole) is the latest feature from the prolific Catalan filmmaker Isabel Coixet – a heartfelt love letter to life based on the best-selling novel by Michela Murgia, and starring Alba Rohrwacher and Elio Germano, the film has scored key sales following its Toronto premiere.
The five-day annual event is organised by Cinecittà, the British Film Institute, with the support of the Italian Cultural Institute in London. The films were selected by Adrian Wootton OBE, CEO of Film London.
This year’s programme comprises the following 11 feature films:
- A Brief Affair (Breve Storia d’Amore), directed by Ludovica Rampoldi
- A Year of School (Un Anno di Scuola), directed by Laura Samani
- Elisa, directed by Leonardo Di Costanzo
- Fuori, directed by Mario Martone
- Heads or Tails? (Testa o Croce?), directed by Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis
- Gioia (La Gioia), directed by Nicolangelo Gelormini
- Primavera, directed by Damiano Michieletto – UK DISTRIBUTOR: CURZON FILM
- Sweetheart (Gioia Mia), directed by Margherita Spampinato
- The Facts of Murder (Un Maledetto Imbroglio), directed by Pietro Germi
- The Last One for the Road (Le Città di Pianura), directed by Francesco Sossai – UK DISTRIBUTOR: BULLDOG FILM DISTRIBUTION
- Three Goodbyes (Tre Ciotole), directed by Isabel Coixet
Screening dates and times will be announced shortly.
