Cinema Made in Italy 2026: How to Choose Your Film at BFI Southbank This Week
Opera and history, rebellious women, dark relationships, road trips, spaghetti-western swagger and restored classics — the 16th edition of Cinema Made in Italy offers several ways into contemporary Italian cinema. Pick the strand that interests you and start there.
The 16th edition of Cinema Made in Italy 2026 returns to BFI Southbank from 4–8 March with ten new Italian films and a restored classic.
If You Like Period Drama and Music — Primavera
Screening: Wed 4 March
The opening night film, Primavera, takes viewers to 18th-century Venice and the musical world of the Ospedale della Pietà. Tecla Insolia plays a gifted violinist whose life changes when Antonio Vivaldi becomes her teacher. Directed by opera director Damiano Michieletto, the film treats music as both discipline and rebellion — a story about talent pushing against the limits placed on young women at the time.
If You Want Sharp Relationship Drama — A Brief Affair and Gioia
Screenings: Fri 6 March (A Brief Affair), Sat 7 March (Gioia)
Two films in the programme examine relationships that quickly turn complicated.
In A Brief Affair, a secret relationship between two strangers begins inside a hotel room but refuses to stay contained there. What starts as an affair slowly becomes a psychological battle between the two couples involved.
Gioia takes an even darker route. A high-school teacher forms a fragile bond with one of her students, creating a relationship that is both forbidden and emotionally impossible to sustain.
If You’re Interested in Strong Female Stories — Fuori and Elisa
Screenings: Sat 7 March
Several films in this year’s line-up centre on women navigating difficult circumstances.
Fuori follows feminist writer Goliarda Sapienza, played by Valeria Golino, whose time in prison unexpectedly becomes a turning point in her creative life.
In Elisa, a woman convicted of killing her sister agrees to participate in a criminological study, slowly confronting memories she has long suppressed.
If You Prefer Character-Driven Journeys — The Last One for the Road and Sweetheart
Screenings: Fri 6 March (The Last One for the Road), Sun 8 March (Sweetheart)
Italian cinema has always had a soft spot for wandering characters, and that tradition appears here too.
The Last One for the Road follows two drifting fifty-somethings who take a shy architecture student along for an improvised trip through the Venetian plains. The film mixes humour and melancholy as the journey gradually reshapes their lives.
Sweetheart offers a quieter journey. A Milanese boy spends the summer in Sicily with his fiercely traditional great-aunt, where the clash between modern habits and older ways of life slowly softens into something warmer.
If You Want Something More Playful — Heads or Tails?
Screening: Thu 5 March
Heads or Tails? channels the spirit of the spaghetti western. A rodeo competition between American cowboys and Italian butteri sets off a chain of events involving romance, murder and a bounty hunt. With John C. Reilly among the cast, the film wears its genre influences proudly.
If You’re a Classic Film Fan — The Facts of Murder
Screening: Sun 8 March
The programme also includes a restored classic: The Facts of Murder, a detective story set in a Roman apartment building. Presented in a new digital restoration, the film stars Claudia Cardinale and offers a reminder of the elegance and precision of Italian crime cinema.
If You Like Literary Adaptations — Three Goodbyes
Screening: Sun 8 March
The closing film, Three Goodbyes, adapts Michela Murgia’s novel about a couple whose breakup leads to a deeper confrontation with illness, love and the choices that shape a life. Starring Alba Rohrwacher and Elio Germano, it closes the festival on a reflective note.
Cinema Made in Italy runs 4–8 March 2026 at BFI Southbank.
VENUE:
BFI Southbank: Belvedere Road, South Bank, London SE1 8XT,
T: +44 (0) 20 7928 3232
Elena Leo is the Culture & Lifestyle Editor of Ikon London Magazine.
