SalinaDocFest: Oliver Stone and Jeremy Irons Among the Guests

The program for the 19th edition of the SalinaDocFest was officially presented in Rome, in the setting of Cinema Farnese Arthouse. The festival will take place from July 15 to 20, 2025, on the island of Salina, in the Aeolian archipelago. The vision for this new edition was outlined by Giovanna Taviani, founder and artistic director of the festival.

During the presentation, a video message from director Daniele Vicari was also screened. Vicari is the author of the book Il cinema, l’immortale (Einaudi, 2022), whose reflections inspired the drafting of the Manifesto “Cinema as a Craft of the Imaginary”, promoted by SalinaDocFest to firmly affirm the right to study audiovisual language in Italian schools. The Manifesto, written by Giovanna Taviani in collaboration with a group of critics and filmmakers, will soon be available for public endorsement on the festival’s official website. It aims to be both a cultural and political tool to address one of today’s most pressing educational needs: to shape informed citizens through visual literacy. The document will be officially presented in Salina on Saturday, July 19, in a public event featuring scholars, artists, and cultural representatives.

SalinaDocFest 2025 expands into an increasingly global dimension, as shown by the presence of major figures from contemporary cinema and culture. Oliver Stone, two-time Academy Award winner, will attend the festival to receive the Gruppo Arena Award and to present his book Chasing the Light in conversation with Silvia Bizio.
Jeremy Irons, Oscar-winning actor and FAO Ambassador, will receive the Irritec Award for his environmental activism, while Sinéad Cusack will be honored with the Lady Wilmar Award for the strength and elegance of her artistic female gaze.
The Pistì Award will go to Italian actress Lunetta Savino for her role in the acclaimed film Diamonds. 

The festival also strengthens its environmental commitment by hosting a special event on sustainability, featuring Jeremy Irons, who will introduce the screening of Trashed, a documentary by Candida Brady in which he serves as narrator and executive producer. Acclaimed by critics and awarded at major international festivals, the film takes viewers to the world’s most waste-polluted regions to depict a global crisis that affects us all. Irons gives voice to scientists, activists, and communities fighting for a cleaner future, exposing political inaction and proposing real solutions. After the screening, the actor will engage in a conversation with the audience, moderated by Cristina Piccino, with input from Giulia Giuffré, Sustainability Ambassador for Irritec.

This year’s main competition at SalinaDocFest will once again bring six Italian premieres to the island, showcasing some of the most compelling new works in documentary filmmaking. The selected films tackle urgent contemporary themes: Il cassetto segreto by Costanza Quatriglio (produced and distributed by Luce Cinecittà) explores family and collective memory, Fratelli di culla by Alessandro Piva investigates the abandonment of children in Italian orphanages, No More Trouble by Tommaso Romanelli deals with grief and absence, L’occhio della gallina by Antonietta De Lillo focuses on the fight for artistic self-determination, Real by Adele Tulli reflects on hyperconnectivity and identity crisis in the digital world and Tineret by Nicolò Ballante portrays the struggles and hopes of precarious adolescence.

These films will compete for the festival’s three main prizes: the Premio Palumbo, Premio MediaFenix, and the Premio Signum, given by the audience.