Mario Puzo Film Festival XI: Cinema, Music, and the Visual Arts Between Reality and Artificial Intelligence

Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th August 2025 are the last two days for the Inner Area Film Festival: Mario Puzo Film Festival – Corto ea capo has reached its 11th Edition. Saturday 23rd masterclass in the afternoon in August Cinema Stories , featuring director and actor Ivano De Matteo , known for his starring role in the TV series Romanzo Criminale and for working with leading directors such as Ettore Scola, Michele Placido, and Daniele Vicari. His film as director, Mia (starring, among others, Edoardo Lea and Milena Mancini), won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay and the Golden Ciak for Best Dramatic Film. Ivano De Matteo will discuss cinema, acting, and more at the Clemente Penna Auditorium in Torre Le Nocelle (AV).

In the evening, the finalist short films, the most voted in the various screenings, will be shown in the Venticano theatre cavea and will compete for the audience award for best short film. Short film . For the evening, we will have the honor of hosting Peppe Lanzetta, a multifaceted artist, writer, actor, and authentic voice of Naples, capable of expressing its rugged soul through pages, stages, and screens. He will perform in an interview. show with readings and moments Of interaction with The public .

Saturday evening will end with the concert Of DUB music by artists Deadbeat & Tikiman , a duo that fuses the deep, spiritual roots of reggae vocals with the immersive, hypnotic rhythm of dub-techno, creating music that is at once emotionally profound, sonically adventurous, and socially attuned. The concert will be accompanied by Visual Live performance by the artist Andrea Maioli / Kanaka and will be preceded by Verbavelata, body painting performance by Vivian Belmonte with musical accompaniment by Pasquale Termini (cello) and Paolo Terms (live electronics).

On Sunday 24th August , after the morning with Cinemavirus (a focus on cinema and artificial intelligence, with presentations of magazines, books and insights by experts in the sector), the festival closes in San George of the Sannio, with the screening of the winning shorts and the documentary Dicono di me by Isabella Mari . The evening will also feature a screening of Antonio Bonagura's out-of-competition short film La porta rotta , in the presence of the director and part of the cast, and a video workshop by Giustino Pennino , entitled Non si vede ma è reale. Racconti, storie e miti da Maria a longa all'intelligenza artificiali . Each evening will open with Screen For Palestina , a moment in which the festival screen will be dedicated to the Palestinian question and the drama unfolding in Gaza . A short film to remember, reflect, and help keep the light shining on this story. The short films are presented by the Nazra Palestine Short Film Festival , and the event is organized in collaboration with the Collettivo Hurriya , thanks to which there will also be two debates during the first and last evenings of the festival.

Artificial Existences: stories of life between reality, fake news, legends, and simulated intelligence is the theme of this new edition. “ Cinema is artificial by definition , it is a machine capable of constructing and making real scenes, situations, characters, stories and even dreams. The director states artistic Umberto Rinaldi . The cinema-local connection that has driven us since our first months of existence, further enhancing our mission of bringing cinema to inland areas, where it's not usually found . This year too, we thank all the municipalities that host CEAC on various evenings and who contribute to spreading cinema in our areas thanks to their hospitality and support.

This year too, works arrived from practically all five continents , making us proud and happy and allowing us to create a pleasant, technically valid offering for all seven competing sections, contributing to raising the level of the event. In addition to the competing works, three other works will also be presented: works out competition , for the usual Irpinia section Carpet that gives space to authors and productions premises and allows a small survey of local productions.