Mario Puzo Film Festival - Corto e a Capo (Venticano stage)

A festival that brings cinema to unexpected places

The Mario Puzo Film Festival - Corto e a Capo, also known by the acronym MAPUFF, was born with a clear vision: to bring cinema to the towns of Campania's inland areas, where movie theaters have been closed for decades and depopulation is a daily reality. Organized by the Daena Film Culture Association with artistic direction by Umberto Rinaldi, the festival is itinerant, moving each summer between the municipalities of Irpinia and Sannio, with the support of the Campania Region and the Campania Film Commission.

The title pays homage to Mario Puzo, the US writer of Irpinian descent who authored The Godfather: an identity-based bond that the festival uses as a starting point to tell stories of emigration, return, and the relationship between the center and the periphery.

Casa MAPUFF, the headquarters in Venticano

Since December 2024, the festival has had a permanent home: Casa MAPUFF, at 19 Via Galileo Galilei in Venticano, a town in the province of Avellino in the Calore Valley. It is not just the logistical base for the event, but a small cultural outpost that remains open well beyond the festival week, hosting film series, book presentations, screenings, and meetings throughout the year.

Casa MAPUFF is the focal point for many of the daily screenings and film education activities aimed at younger audiences. For Venticano, this effectively means having the only continuous film programming space in a rather large area.

The 12th edition: August 19–24, 2026

The 2026 edition, the twelfth, will take place from August 19 to 24 with the theme "Reversing the Trend. Strategies to oppose chronic decline." The underlying theme is clear: to question, through images, how to reverse the course of depopulation and the marginalization of inland territories.

The festival opens in Tufo on August 19 and closes in Montefusco on August 24, stopping along the way in Venticano, San Giorgio del Sannio, San Martino Sannita, Atripalda, and Avellino. Announced guests include director Maura Delpero (Vermiglio), special effects master Sergio Stivaletti (receiving a lifetime achievement award), and actor and producer Riccardo Scamarcio, who will lead a masterclass.

The Venticano day

Saturday, August 22, 2026, Venticano will host what the organizers call the festival's socio-political reflection day. The program includes an institutional debate on the future of inland areas, the screening of the film Ritorno al tratturo by Francesco Cordio, featuring Elio Germano, presented by the director himself, and an evening interview-masterclass with actor Stefano Fresi dedicated to the relationship between urban cinema and local cinema.

Competitive sections

MAPUFF is not just about meetings: the heart of the event remains the competition, fueled by about 400 works submitted from over forty countries. The 2026 official selections are divided into several sections:

• Best Short Corto e a capo - open theme, the main short film section
• L'Immaginale - best social short film
• Reversing the Trend Award - themed section linked to the edition's core message
• Environmental Sustainability - created with Officine Sostenibili
• Details that Make the Difference - section curated with Slow Food Avellino
• School Days - best school short film
• DAENA Award for Best Documentary and a selection of feature films

The audience is not a passive spectator: in past editions, the most voted shorts in the theater were re-screened on the final night, where the audience decides the winner.

Why it's worth the trip

Those arriving in Venticano during these days won't find a red carpet, but something rarer: screenings in squares and municipal spaces, directors and actors who stay to discuss with the public until late at night, cine-literary aperitifs, and a community reclaiming a lost habit. It is a festival tailored to the town, free in spirit and generous in content, which over the years has brought names like Alessandro Haber, Ivano De Matteo, and Peppe Lanzetta to Irpinia.

Venticano and surroundings

Venticano is located halfway between Avellino and Benevento, in a hilly landscape of vineyards and olive groves. Festival-goers can easily extend their tour to the municipalities involved in the event: Tufo, home of the Greco DOCG wine, and Montefusco, with its historic village overlooking the Sabato Valley. A combination of cinema, landscape, and Irpinian gastronomy that is, ultimately, the very essence of MAPUFF.