Lucca Film Festival 2026: Giancarlo Giannini Presents Baracoa
On Tuesday, September 29, the actor will be in Lucca with director Luis Ernesto Doñas and producer Francesco Papa. The program also features international cinema, video art, and a tribute to Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti.
Lucca Film Festival spans different forms of expression and stories: Giancarlo Giannini will present Baracoa at 9:00 p.m. alongside Cuban director Luis Ernesto Doñas and producer Francesco Papa.
Doñas’s debut film, Baracoa follows the journey through contemporary Cuba of Pepe and Estrellita, two people who seem worlds apart. What sets them on their journey is the last wish of Pepe’s Italian father: to scatter his ashes at the old family estate.
The journey thus becomes an opportunity to explore prejudices, unexpected encounters, and the possibility of change.
The fourth day of the festival will begin at 10 a.m. at the Fondazione BDM Auditorium with Il settimo Presidente, a documentary by Daniele Ceccarini and Mario Molinari dedicated to Sandro Pertini. In the afternoon, the international feature film competition will bring Nikolai Kovalenko’s Another World to the Cinema Centrale at 3 p.m. and Xinyang Zhang’s Panda at 5 p.m.
At 3 p.m., the San Micheletto Complex will host Francesco d’Assisi by Michael Curtiz, as part of the series dedicated to the saint. At the same time, at the BDM Foundation Auditorium, Unveiling Black Presence in Renaissance Art by Fred Kudjo Kuwornu will be screened.
The evening will also feature an encounter between cinema and art history. At 9:00 p.m., at the San Micheletto Complex, the CritoFilm Ragghianti series will present a selection of films directed by Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, introduced by the director of the Ragghianti Foundation, Paolo Bolpagni.
Among the announced titles are Lucca città comunale, Pompei città della pittura, and Canal Grande: works that bring to the screen the art historian’s exploration of cinema’s potential as a tool for interpreting images and places.
The Lucca Film Festival will continue through October 4.
Admission to these events is free while seats last. The full program and updates are available on the festival website.
Over the years, the Lucca Film Festival has hosted big names in international cinema and paid tribute to them—from Oliver Stone to David Lynch, from Ethan Hawke and Susan Sarandon to Isabelle Huppert, from Rutger Hauer to George Romero, from Paolo Sorrentino to Willem Dafoe, from Chiara Mastroianni and Paul Schrader to Matthew Modine and Ruben Östlund, as well as Aleksandr Sokurov and Gaspar Noé, becoming a cultural landmark in Italy. The event is made possible thanks to the support of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca, with Banca Generali Private Wealth Management (Paolo Tacchi) and Banca Pictet serving as the event’s main sponsors. It is organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture—Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual Media, the City of Lucca, and Vivi Lucca Eventi, and with the participation of Lands of Giacomo Puccini and the North-West Tuscany Chamber of Commerce. The festival also receives support from the Region of Tuscany, Fondazione Sistema Toscana, Manifatture Digitali Cinema, Sofidel, Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca, Fondazione Giacomo Puccini and the Puccini Museum—Birthplace, Farmacia Maffei, Unicoop Firenze, Audi Center Terigi, Tenuta del Buonamico, Martinelli Luce, Naturanda, Futuro3D, and is co-produced by Tecno Servizi, Ristorante Giglio, Palazzo Pfanner, Over The Real, Teatro del Giglio in Lucca, IMT School for Advanced Studies in Lucca, the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara, the Augusto Passaglia High School of Art, Music, and Dance, the N. Machiavelli Classical High School, ISIS Pertini, the 50&PIÙ Association, and ACLI Lucca. Special thanks also go to ANSA, Rai Toscana, Rai Radio 3, Movieplayer.it, Radio Incontro, Film4Life, Festival Scope, A.C.S.I. (Association of Italian Sports Centers), the Italian Amateur Theater Federation (FITA), Trenitalia, FIC, UICC, CINIT, UCCA, ARCI, FEDIC, Corte Tripoli, Circolo del Cinema di Lucca, Cineforum Ezechiele 25:17, Cinema Centrale, Astra, and Moderno, University of Pisa, University of Florence, Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti Foundation, Pisa al Cinema, Cineteca Bologna, Cineteca Nazionale, Luigi Boccherini Music Institute, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Italy, Associazione Donne all’Ultimo Grido, SPAM! Network for Contemporary Arts, Lucca Comics & Games, Photolux Festival, Lucca Classica Music Festival.
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