Lucca Film Festival is an annual event that celebrates and promotes cinematographic culture. Through screenings, exhibitions, conferences and performances, the Festival has been able to captivate an ever-increasing audience with a program that ranges from experimental to mainstream films. Through the years, Lucca Film Festival has carved out a niche for itself, standing apart from the many other festivals thanks to its bold yet carefully studied programming. Over the years, great names of international filmmakers and well-known celebrities have attended Lucca Film Festival as invited guests; David Lynch, Oliver Stone, Jeremy Irons, Willem Dafoe, George Romero, Terry Gilliam, William Friedkin, Alfonso Cuarón, John Boorman, Rutger Hauer, Joe Dante, Aleksandr Sokurov, Susan Sarandon, Gabriele Salvatores, Ethan Hawke, Paul Schrader and Peter Greenaway, just to name a few. At the same time, the Festival has offered retrospectives of “old” glories while unearthing new talents. To top it all off, breathtaking Lucca serve as a stunning backdrop to an event that has now firmly established itself, becoming a highly anticipated and not-to-be-missed appointment in Italy and in Europe: the Lucca Film Festival.
Since its creation, the festival has always been committed to promoting contemporary films. Therefore, directors from all over the world can submit their films to the competitive section of the festival through the dedicated call for entries. The 2025 edition of Lucca Film Festival will be held September 20th-28th.
Lucca Film Festival has 3 competitions: The International Feature Film Competition, The International Short Film Competition and The "Lucca Film Festival for Future" Short Film Competition.
The 2025 will be the 21th edition of the Lucca Film Festival International Feature Film Competition. In the previous editions important personalities of cinema like Cristi Puiu, Rutger Hauer, Philip Groening, Claudio Giovannesi, Daniele Ciprì, Massimo Gaudioso, Massimo Cantini Parrini, Lina Nerli Taviani had been part of the international jury.
The films shown during this competition are Italian premieres and last edition was won by "The cage is looking for a bird" by Malika Musaeva.
There are four awards: Best feature film prize (3000€), awarded by a jury of renowned guests from both the cinematographic and academic worlds; and Best feature film – university jury prize (awarded by an university jury), Best feature film - Popular jury and the Marcello Petrozziello Award.
For those who are interested in this competition, the last day for submissions is July 15, 2025, until midnight.
There are no limitations to the genre or topic of the films. The only requirements are the following: the films must be at least 60 minutes long and must have been completed in 2024. Moreover, they must be Italian premieres, so they cannot have been presented in any other Italian festival, shown on any online open platform or distributed in any other way in Italy.
For the 18th year in a row, it will take place the historic short films competition, whose winner will receive a 500€ prize. Every year, the selection committee of this competition receives more than 500 films to evaluate. Among the directors who took part in earlier editions, there are celebrities like Adan Jodorowsky, son of the famous Chilean filmmaker.
The films have no limitations in genre and topic. The only requirement is that they cannot last more than 29 minutes. For the short films competition, the last day for submissions is July 15, 2025, until midnight.
Second edition of the new short film competition,:"Lucca Film Festival for Future", which was born thanks to the collaboration with the Sofidel Group, 2nd producer in Europe and 7th in the world for production capacity in the sector of paper for hygienic and domestic use (known in particular for the Regina brand), which has made sustainability a strategic lever of development and responsible growth to reduce its impact on natural capital and favour the transition towards a low carbon impact economy.
List of the selected films will be published on the festival’s website within September 10, 2025. During the festival the movies will be shown in the cinemas taking part in the event and on demand online.
The Lucca Film Festival, coordinated by Nicola Borrelli, is one of the key events organized and sponsored by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca.
The event's main sponsors are Banca Generali Private Wealth Management (Paolo Tacchi) e Banca Pictet. The organization of the Lucca Film Festival has also been possible thanks to Ministero della cultura – Direzione Generale Cinema e Audiovisivo, Miur, Regione Toscana, Fondazione Sistema Toscana, Manifatture Digitali Cinema, Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca, Sofidel, Fondazione Giacomo Puccini e Puccini Museum – Casa Natale, Audi Center Terigi Tenuta del Buonamico, Naturanda, Martinelli Luce, Futuro3D, Tecno Servizi, Ristorante Giglio, Palazzo Pfanner, Teatro del Giglio, ConfCommercio Lucca e Massa Carrara, Grand Universe Lucca, Grand Universe – La residenza, Over The Real, Teatro del Giglio di Lucca, Fondazione Giacomo Puccini e Puccini Museum – Casa Natale, Casa d’arte San Lorenzo, Accademia Cinema Toscana; Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara, Istituto Luigi Boccherini e Liceo Artistico Musicale e Coreutico Augusto Passaglia, Liceo Classico N. Machiavelli, ISIS Pertini.
Thanks also to Rai Toscana, Rai Radio 3, Movieplayer.it, Film4 Life, Festival Scope, A.C.S.I. Associazione Centri Sportivi Italiani, Federazione Italiana Teatro Amatori (FITA), Trenitalia, Fic, Uicc, Cinit, Ucca, Arci, Fedic, Corte Tripoli, Circolo del Cinema di Lucca, Cineforum Ezechiele 25:17, Cinema Centrale, Astra e Moderno, Cinema Arsenale, Octocom, Università di Pisa, Università degli Studi Firenze, Fondazione Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, Pisa al Cinema, Cinema Arsenale, Cineteca Bologna, Cineteca Nazionale, Istituto Musicale Luigi Boccherini, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Italia, Associazione Donne all’Ultimo Grido, , SPAM! Rete per le arti contemporanee, Lucca Comics & Games, Photolux Festival, Lucca Classica Music Festival.
Come to the Lucca Film Festival and experience a full 360° immersion in both the cinema and the heart of Tuscany.
Best Short Film Jury Prize: 500 euros
Best Feature Film Jury Prize: 3000 euros
LFF For Future Best Short Film Prize: 1000 euros