The Lucca Film Festival and Europa Cinema 2019 are now accepting submissions for the competitions. The international cinema event in question will take place between the 13th and the 21st of April 2019 in Lucca and Viareggio, among other important events organised and supported by the city’s Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio.

The ‘Lucca Film Festival and Europa Cinema’ event – which in recent years has welcomed the most distinguished names in the international cinema field, from Oliver Stone to David Lynch, from George Romero to Terry Gilliam - is now accepting applications for competitive competitions in the festival’s spirit and tradition. It has always valued contemporary independent productions, in order to contribute to the international cinematographic industry’s growth. Therefore, it offers a notice of selection, which will allow directors from around the world to submit their films for the selective competition.

Competition for feature films

The fourth edition of the Italian feature films competition will award two prizes: the Best feature film (3000 euros) will be assigned by a jury consisting of individuals from both the cinematic and academic world; and the Best feature film – collegial jury, will be awarded by a group of university students. The deadline for submissions is set for March 7th 2019 at 12 am (00:00); the 14 selected film stocks will be inserted within the festival’s program. There is no preferred genre or topic for the projects entered in the competition. The only requirements are: that the film was released in the year 2018 and that it must last at least 60 minutes. Moreover, the projects must be films that have not been submitted to any Italian events, nor been screened and/or distributed in Italy and mustn’t been presented on online public platforms. In order to participate one must send an online screener (SCR) of the project (accompanied by a screenplay in English, in case the audio or subtitles are not in Italian). In last year’s edition best film was awarded to The Cannibal Club by Guto Parente (Best feature film) and Gutland by Govinda Van Maele (Best feature film – collegial jury).

The selection committee for this upcoming year’s festival will be composed of Nicolas Condemi, Stefano Giorgi and Martino Martinelli. The selected film stocks will be announced (via e-mail or on the event’s website) by March 20th 2019, and will then be screened in the theatres that will host next year’s festival (info: featurecompetition@luccafilmfestival.it).
For additional information please consult the competition notice page on the festival’s website: www.luccafilmfestival.it/en/feature-length-film-2019-call-for-entries.

Competition for short films

The historical competition dedicated to short films has been confirmed for the thirteenth year in a row, and it assigns a prize in cash for Best film, as well, for the value of 500 euros. Every year the selection committee receives more than 300 projects that they must sift through. One of the most renowned authors is Adan Jodorowsky, son of the famous Chilean artist; but you can also find distinguished directors such as Luca Ferri, Adriano Valerio and Giuseppe Boccassini. A few other works stick out as top winners of the past years’ short film competitions: ‘Death in a Day’ by director Lin Wang and ‘Movements Arising from Different Relationships/Between Regularity and Irregularity 2’ received an honorable mention; last year’s undisputed winner was ‘Hoissuru’ by Armand Rovira. Even though the fil rouge theme is quite common within the competition, there are absolutely no genre or topic limitations, but it mustn’t last more than 29 minutes. In this case as well, the deadline is set for March 7th 2019 at 12 am (00:00). The films must be submitted via e-mail at competition@luccafilmfestival.it., or by presenting a hard copy (DVD, Blu-ray, USB flash drive) to Rachele Pollastrini located in Via dei Cucchi #275, San Pietro A Vico, CAP 55100, Lucca, Italy. Each contestant can submit as many as four projects. The selected films will be announced (via e-mail and/or on the event’s website) by March 20th 2019, and will then be screened in the theatres that will host next year’s festival.
For additional information please consult the competition notice page on the festival’s website: www.luccafilmfestival.it/en/short-film-2019-call-for-entries.

Two additional juries will preside this year’s edition: the People’s Jury for the feature films competition and the Collegial Jury for the feature films and short films competition. The Festival is already accepting submissions. In order to participate at this upcoming year’s edition send an e-mail at: segreteria@luccafilmfestival.it no later than April 6th 2019..

The Lucca Film Festival and Europa Cinema, chaired by Nicola Borrelli, is one of the main events that the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio of Lucca supports and helps organise. Banca Generali and Banca Pictet are the event’s Main Sponsors and the exhibitions are produced with the support of Societe Generale. A special thanks goes to Bando Funder35, Gesam Gas&Luce S.p.A., Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca, Lucar S.p.A., Alleanza Assicurazioni S.p.A., Luccaorganizza, Il Ciocco S.p.A., Istituto Luce Cinecittà S.r.l., Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo, Regione Toscana, Fondazione Sistema Toscana, Comune di Lucca, Comune di Viareggio, Provincia di Lucca and to the collaboration and co-production of Martinelli Luce, Cantina Campo alle Comete, Teatro del Giglio di Lucca, Fondazione Giacomo Puccini and Puccini Museum – Casa Natale, Fondazione Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, Fondazione UIBI, CNA Cinema e Audiovisivo Toscana, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Istituto Luigi Boccherini and Liceo Artistico Musicale e Coreutico Augusto Passaglia. Our warm thanks also go out to Lucca Comics&Games, the Direzione Regionale di Trenitalia, Unicoop Firenze, Confcommercio of the Provincie di Lucca and Massa Carrara, the Degree Course in Performing Arts and Communication of the Dipartimento di Civiltà e Forme del Sapere of the University of Pisa and the Photolux Festival.

The Lucca Film Festival and Europa Cinema is a yearly event, which celebrates and promotes cinematographic culture. Every year the festival is able to attract an increasingly large public thanks to screenings, exhibitions, conventions and concerts, ranging from experimental to mainstream cinema. Over the course of the years, the festival was able to distinguish itself among the many other events through bold, but at the same time, carefully studied programs; it was able to pay homage to accomplished individuals within the movie industry, to rediscover others and to ‘bet’ on new ones. To top it all off, the cities of Lucca and Viareggio make the festival a not-to-be-missed and long awaited event in both Italy and Europe.