Ettore Scola Irpinia International Film Festival

An international festival in Ettore Scola's hometown

The Ettore Scola Irpinia International Film Festival is the event that, since 2025, has brought great cinema back to Trevico, a municipality in the province of Avellino, Campania, the birthplace of the director of "We All Loved Each Other So Much". It is promoted by the IrpiniaMia association, led by Maria Raffaella Calabrese De Feo, in collaboration with the Scola family and the Municipality of Trevico as the main partner; the project ranked first in the Film Commission of the Campania Region call for proposals.

The artistic direction is entrusted to Silvia Scola, screenwriter and daughter of the director, alongside journalist and film critic Fabio Ferzetti; for the 2026 edition, the team has expanded to include Vittorio Giacci and Marta Rizzo. The University of Salerno collaborates through its Visual Arts, Music, and Performing Arts course and its Gender Studies Observatory.

The cinema of the marginalized

The festival's ethos is declared in its very first call for entries: "the cinema of the marginalized." It is a direct tribute to the poetics of Ettore Scola, who portrayed the suburbs, families, losers, and the forgotten without rhetoric or folklore. The festival seeks works capable of giving a voice to the fringes of society and challenging the status quo, ensuring that the stories of the marginalized serve as a civic lens on the present rather than a nostalgic exercise.

Competitions and awards

• Best International Feature Film — fiction or documentary, minimum duration 52 minutes, produced in the last three years: 3,000 euro prize.
• Best Italian Short Film — maximum duration 20 minutes, produced in the last two years: 2,000 euro prize.
• Awards for directing, cinematography, acting, screenplay, and editing, with the possibility of ex aequo.
• Winners receive the Ettore Scola Award along with local artisanal products donated by sponsors.

The jury consists of five members—four jurors plus the president—renewed annually and selected by the artistic direction from prominent figures in national and international cinema. Future editions will include a competition dedicated to debut works, including shorts and documentaries.

Palazzo Scola and the festival venues

The heart of the festival is Palazzo Scola, the family home donated to the Municipality in 2003 to become a cultural space for the community: this is where exhibitions, morning meetings, and guided tours are held. Evening screenings take place outdoors at the Arena Ettore Scola, Piazza Nicola Ferrara hosts food and wine stands, and Piazza Ettore Scola serves as the stage for the awards ceremony. The program goes beyond films: book presentations, debates, exhibitions, and meetings open to the public and young people accompany each day, alongside classics of Italian and international cinema and retrospectives dedicated to Scola's work.

A regional project

The festival does not remain confined to the village: from its very first edition, it has involved all the municipalities of the Baronia, nine neighboring towns, and two centers outside Campania, Candela and Monteleone di Puglia. This choice speaks volumes about the project: using cinema to keep the Alta Irpinia of small towns alive, the same inland area that Scola brought to the screen in "Trevico-Torino. Viaggio nel Fiat-Nam".

Trevico, the rooftop of Campania

Arriving in Trevico is an experience in itself: at an altitude of 1,094 meters, it is the highest municipality in the region, the "rooftop of Irpinia," a village of just over eight hundred inhabitants overlooking a landscape that, on clear days, stretches toward the Tavoliere plain. Even in mid-August, evenings at this altitude are cool: a sweatshirt or a light jacket is recommended for outdoor screenings.