Sorrento Film & Food Festival

Cinema and cuisine, a Sorrento pairing

The Sorrento Film & Food Festival is an event that, in early January, turns the center of Sorrento, in the Metropolitan City of Naples, into a meeting point for the big screen and fine dining. Promoted by the The Artist Club Italia association, the event has quickly grown into one of the most popular cultural highlights on the Sorrento Peninsula and throughout Campania, under the patronage of the Municipality of Sorrento, the Campania Region, and the Ministry of Culture.

The Teatro Tasso, home of the festival

The headquarters is the Teatro Tasso in Piazza Sant'Antonino, just a short walk from the Marina Piccola harbor and the viewpoints overlooking the Gulf of Naples. Here, from the afternoon until late at night, screenings, presentations, musical moments, and award ceremonies take place. In larger editions, the program has also involved the Cinema Teatro Armida, increasing the number of screens available to the public.

An international program

The lineup alternates highly anticipated new releases with documentaries, short films, and debut works selected from around the world. Alongside the films in competition, there are previews, tributes, and meetings with the authors: actors, directors, producers, and screenwriters take the stage to engage with the audience before or after the screenings. Over the years, the festival has hosted Oscar winners, international artists, and stars of Italian cinema.

Sections and competition

The festival structure is organized into several recognizable sections that return year after year:

• Italian Talents — the best of new national production;
• Artists from the World — international works selected from hundreds of submissions;
• The Taste of Cinema — films and documentaries where food is the absolute protagonist;
• special screenings, comedies, cult films, and documentaries dedicated to music and culinary culture.

Competition entries are submitted via the FilmFreeway platform: for the third edition, nearly three hundred works from about fifty countries were received, a number that reflects the international reach of the event.

Chefs on stage

The food component is not just a decorative side dish. Every year, the festival honors Michelin-starred chefs, historic restaurateurs, and ambassadors of Italian cuisine abroad, who are invited to the Teatro Tasso stage alongside the actors. Names linked to the great Campanian tradition and some of the most renowned establishments on the Coast have passed through here, in a continuous dialogue between the Mediterranean diet, local products, and visual storytelling. The UNESCO recognition of Italian cuisine has further highlighted this section.

A free festival open to all

The hallmark of the Sorrento FFF is free access: screenings at the Teatro Tasso are free of charge, subject to availability. This is complemented by online programming on the Eventive platform, which makes dozens of titles available even to those who cannot reach the Sorrento Peninsula, transforming the festival into a hybrid event between the theater and streaming.

Sorrento in January

Choosing the beginning of January is no coincidence: the festival occupies the period between New Year's Day and Epiphany, when Sorrento is still lit by Christmas lights but already free from the summer crowds. Strolling through Corso Italia and the alleys of the historic center, looking out over the Vallone dei Mulini or the harbor, and then heading into the theater for a film: it is this combination, even more than the individual titles, that makes the event a typically Sorrento experience.

Why it's worth visiting

Those looking for a human-scale film festival, without inaccessible red carpets and with the real possibility of meeting the guests in the foyer, will find a rare format in Sorrento. And those arriving primarily for the food will discover that here, cinema is something you can taste: the Sorrento Peninsula remains one of Italy's most solid gastronomic destinations, featuring PGI lemons, gnocchi alla sorrentina, provolone del Monaco, and restaurants with long family histories.