Leggo Brasile
Festa_del_Cinema_Italiano

8.5 Italian Film Festival: Great Italian cinema returns to Brazil

From 25 June to 1 July 2026 Brazil will host the 13th edition of the 8.5 Italian Film Festival, the most important festival dedicated to Italian cinema in Portuguese-speaking countries. The event, now a regular fixture for Italian film and culture enthusiasts, will bring to the big screen a selection of ten works that showcase the vitality and diversity of contemporary Italian cinema..

Founded in Lisbon in 2008 and brought to Brazil in 2014, the event has grown steadily to become the main cultural bridge between Italy and Brazil in the audiovisual sector. After the online editions organized during the pandemic and the return to theaters, the festival continues to attract strong interest from Brazilian audiences..

The 2026 edition will take place in numerous Brazilian cities, including São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Recife, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Florianópolis, Aracaju, Maceió, and Caxias do Sul, with additional locations added to the national program. The festival will offer audiences unreleased films, premieres, and works that have already received recognition at major international festivals..

Among the most anticipated elements of this edition is the presence of the Italian director Federico Ferrone, a special guest at the festival. Ferrone will present the documentary The Secret Brothers, co-produced with Michele Manzolini, tells the story of Pasquale, Gaetano, and Alfonso Segreto, Italian cinema pioneers in Brazil. The work symbolically represents the strong historical and cultural bond between the two countries.

The program also includes contemporary productions, literary adaptations, documentaries and a particularly significant restored classic: Dear Diary by Nanni Moretti, one of the most important films of Italian cinema of the last decades, presented in a new restored version.

The 2026 edition also marks a strengthening of the collaboration with the Generali insurance group, which becomes the event’s main sponsor and takes on the naming rights. From this year on, the event is called “8.5 Festa del Cinema Italiano por Generali,” confirming the company’s support for the diffusion of Italian culture in Brazil..

Organized by the Il Sorpasso Association and Risi Film Brasil, with the support of the Italian Embassy, ​​the Italian diplomatic and consular network, and the Italian Cultural Institutes, the festival today represents one of the most effective tools for promoting Italian cinema abroad and strengthening cultural ties between Italy and Brazil.

Once again, the 8½ Festa del Cinema Italiano confirms itself not only as a showcase for the best contemporary Italian productions, but also as a privileged opportunity for encounters between two cultures historically united by deep ties of friendship, immigration and artistic exchange..