Laceno d'Oro International Film Festival

A festival born in 1959 with Pasolini

The Laceno d'Oro International Film Festival is one of Italy's most enduring cinematic events. The first edition dates back to 1959, when two young Irpinian intellectuals, Camillo Marino and Giacomo d'Onofrio, launched a festival dedicated to the new Italian cinema, heir to neorealism. It was Pier Paolo Pasolini who suggested the Laceno plateau in the territory of Bagnoli Irpino as the venue: that untouched, wooded landscape reminded him of the peasant culture and the Friulian countryside of his childhood. Pasolini served on the jury for the first edition, when the award went to Michelangelo Antonioni for «Il grido», and remained a regular presence in the years that followed.

From the Irpinian mountains to the capital

After its debut in Bagnoli Irpino, the festival moved to Avellino and neighboring towns in the 1960s, experiencing its most successful era between the late sixties and early seventies. From 1959 to 1988, twenty-eight editions were held: only the 1980 Irpinia earthquake managed to stop one. Following the passing of Camillo Marino, the experience was reborn in 2001 with the «Camillo Marino Prize», which became the current Laceno d'Oro in 2007. Today, it is organized by the ImmaginAzione APS Film Culture Circle, chaired by Antonio Spagnuolo, with artistic direction by Maria Vittoria Pellecchia and programming led by Aldo Spiniello.

Three international competitions

The heart of the festival is the official selection, divided into three competitions open to filmmakers from around the world:

• Laceno d'Oro — feature films and medium-length films over 30 minutes, including fiction, documentaries, and works of «cinema of the real»;
• Eyes on the City — short films of 30 minutes or less dedicated to urban spaces, the environment, and landscape;
• Spazio Campania — works created by Campanian authors, or produced/set in the region, with the award named after Chiara Rigione.

Alongside the international juries, a popular jury composed of spectators awards its own prizes: the «Franca Troisi» award for the best film in the main competition and the audience award for Spazio Campania.

Much more than a film festival

The program goes beyond screenings. Each edition offers retrospectives dedicated to lifetime achievement award winners, masterclasses and meetings with authors, book presentations, exhibitions, concerts, and live soundtracks for silent or cult films, as well as matinees reserved for local schools. Over the years, the lifetime achievement award has gone to names like Ken Loach, Jia Zhang-ke, Alexander Sokurov, Víctor Erice, and Leos Carax, while the honorary «Pier Paolo Pasolini» award celebrates those who have carried on his civil and poetic legacy.

Venues in Avellino

Screenings are held in the Municipality of Avellino, the capital of the province of the same name in Campania: on one side, the Cinema Eliseo, now the «Camillo Marino and Giacomo d'Onofrio» House of Film Culture, and on the other, the Multisala Partenio on Via Giuseppe Verdi. Some editions supplement the theater screenings with on-demand streaming, and various side events take place in other locations across the city and Irpinia, from the Irpinian Museum to the Provincial Library and the Bourbon Prison.

Why it's worth the trip

For nine days, Avellino becomes a small observatory on international independent cinema, featuring works that rarely reach Italian theaters and a dedicated audience that discusses films upon leaving the screening. The free admission to all screenings is a core identity of the festival: those spending a few days in Irpinia can combine cinema with the discovery of a territory known for its wines — Taurasi, Fiano di Avellino, Greco di Tufo — and the charming villages surrounding the capital.