The 22nd edition of the Lucca Film Festival will run from September 26 to October 4, 2026, featuring a competitive lineup of 12 feature films and 12 short films, alongside lifetime achievement honors for high-profile figures including Gordon Getty, Julian Schnabel, Liliana Cavani, and Nanni Moretti, according to festival organizers.
Lucca Film Festival 2026 Honorees and Special Screenings
Festival director Nicola Borrelli announced the program alongside regional officials, according to reporting from ANSA and Cinecittà News. Musician and screenwriter Gordon Getty will attend the festival to receive a lifetime achievement award and present the Italian premiere of Plump Jack alongside director Martin Guigui. The October 4 screening at the Cinema Centrale is organized in collaboration with the Teatro del Giglio Puccini, the Luigi Boccherini Conservatory, and the Lucca Musical Association, as reported by ANSA.
American artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel will receive a lifetime achievement award on September 27, according to Cinecittà News. Schnabel will present his latest film, In the Hand of Dante, as a special event realized in partnership with Netflix, and will conduct a masterclass on September 28, as detailed by ANSA.
Additional honorees include veteran Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini, who will present his recent Cuban-backed film Baracoa, directed by Luis Ernesto Doñas, on September 29, with moderation by journalist Giovanni Bogani, according to Cinecittà News. Director Liliana Cavani will receive a lifetime achievement honor on October 2, followed by a public talk moderated by film critic Fabio Ferzetti. Palme d’Or winner Nanni Moretti will accept a lifetime achievement award on October 3, accompanied by a retrospective screening of his 1976 feature debut, Io sono un autarchico.
Additional Competition Sections and Closing Events
The 2026 program expands beyond traditional retrospectives to feature contemporary international cinema and multidisciplinary events. filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn will appear on October 3 to receive the Golden Panther Award and present his upcoming thriller Her Private Hell, which releases in Italian cinemas on October 1 through Mubi, according to Cinecittà News. Lithuanian director Šarūnas Bartas serves as a competition juror and will be honored with a dedicated retrospective covering works such as The Corridor (1995) and Peace to Us in Our Dreams (2015).
The festival concludes on October 4 at the Cinema Astra with the screening of Giovanni Veronesi’s Dio Ride, attended by the director alongside actors Pierfrancesco Favino and Silvio Orlando. This closing event coincides with the 26th edition of the Incontri del Cinema d’Essai, hosted in Lucca by the Italian Federation of Art House Cinemas (FICE) starting October 5, as reported by Cinecittà News.
Other notable program elements include a special screening cycle marking the eighth centenary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi, the return of the youth-focused “Lucca Film Festival for Future” competitive section headed by jury president Donatella Finocchiaro, and the opening-day “Lucca Effetto Cinema” activation on September 26, which merges live performance and urban space across the historic center.
Keep reading