Thirteen feature films and documentaries, a runway show built around a Brunello Cucinelli documentary, and a tribute to a long-overlooked Black actor-musician are all packed into five days as Charleston's Nuovo Cinema Italiano Film Festival marks its 20th anniversary this week. The festival runs Wednesday through Sunday at the Queen Street Playhouse in downtown Charleston, where it has grown from a modest campus series into one of the city's steadiest showcases for Italian cinema.
According to the festival's own announcement, this year's edition is set for Nov. 4-8 at 20 Queen St. and will screen 13 feature films and documentaries over the five days. The lineup opens with the comedy “Che Dio perdona a tutti,” about a disillusioned real estate agent in Sicily who falls for a religious pastry chef, the announcement says. Also on the schedule is “Primavera,” a drama centered on a young violinist in 18th-century Venice mentored by composer Antonio Vivaldi, and “La salita,” based on the true story of a theater workshop that Neapolitan playwright Eduardo De Filippo organized at a juvenile detention center — a film in which special guest Alfredo Cossu will appear, per the Post and Courier.
A Documentary Inspires a Runway Show
One of the festival's centerpiece events pairs film with fashion. “Brunello: The Gracious Visionary,” Giuseppe Tornatore's documentary about designer Brunello Cucinello, screens at 6 p.m. Friday, and the festival's announcement says that screening “has inspired the festival to organize a special fashion show,” set for 8:30 p.m. the same night at the Queen Street Playhouse. The Post and Courier reports the show was produced by Giovanna Bortolamedi and will feature professional and student models wearing clothing from 120% Lino, Peserico, Gwynn's, Finicky Filly and Clorinda Antinori, with music and a reception for festival members to follow.
Festival founder and artistic director Giovanna De Luca told the Post and Courier that the fashion show made sense this year because Italy is known for fashion and the program already included a fashion-themed film. It isn't the first time the festival has leaned into that pairing — the Post and Courier notes the festival previously collaborated with M. Dumas & Sons on a show that featured College of Charleston soccer players as models. This year's Brunello screening will also include a Q&A with special guest Domenico De Sole, the former Gucci Group CEO and co-founder of Tom Ford International, according to the Post and Courier.
Honoring Dotts Johnson's Legacy
The festival's final major event centers on a different kind of rediscovery. A 5 p.m. Saturday screening of the Neapolitan episode of Roberto Rossellini's “Paisan” — which features African-American actor and musician Dotts Johnson — will be followed by a conversation with Dr. Luvada Harrison, an associate professor of musical theater and voice at the University of Alabama and a relative of Johnson's, according to the festival's announcement. Harrison is expected to discuss Johnson's life and her own work on a biographical musical about him, the Post and Courier reports.
That Saturday program will also include a musical performance: Stephen Washington and Zandrina Dunning are set to perform three compositions by Johnson, some of them arranged by Etienne Charles, who the Post and Courier says first suggested the collaboration focused on Johnson. The festival's announcement adds that Domenico De Sole, Valerio Ciriaci, Stefano Caseretano, Alfredo Cossu and Gianluca Matarrese are among the special guests appearing across the week.
From a Campus Series to a Downtown Fixture
De Luca, a College of Charleston professor of Italian and film, founded the festival with a straightforward goal. “I started this festival 20 years ago because Charleston-area residents and students lacked access to quality international cinema,” she said, according to the festival's announcement. The Post and Courier reports De Luca has said the event began small on the College of Charleston campus before expanding to the Sottile Theatre and eventually to the Queen Street Playhouse.
De Luca told the Post and Courier she never set out to build a grand cinema event for Charleston, and that she selects films that reveal everyday life in Italy rather than chasing prestige titles. She has also said the festival's post-screening conversations with visiting filmmakers — who discuss their creative choices and the Italian life portrayed on screen — let audiences understand how those choices were made, not just what ended up on screen.
An Industry Under Financial Pressure
The festival's anniversary arrives as Italy's film industry navigates a mixed economic picture. Italy's audiovisual sector was valued at €16.8 billion in 2025, up 3.1% year over year, even as investment in content for cinema, television and video-on-demand fell 7.4% to €2 billion, according to a report from Cinema & Video International. The same report says uncertainty around public funding amounts, eligibility rules and application timelines is making it harder for producers to plan and is raising the cost of financing projects.
Separately, a €100 million lending initiative backed by Italian and U.S. investors is aimed at improving access to financing for domestic producers and international shoots, according to Cineuropa. Against that backdrop, the Post and Courier notes that Italian filmmakers face funding and distribution challenges and continue to lean on storytelling, acting and inventive cinematography to get films made and seen — the kind of work Nuovo Cinema Italiano has built its reputation on showcasing, alongside chances for audiences to meet the artists behind the films.
Nonmember individual tickets for this year's screenings cost $15, while students and veterans with ID pay $5; tickets are available at the door, according to the festival's schedule page. The festival has been a Charleston fixture for years; Fordham University noted the event was already in its 12th year back in 2018, featuring screenings, director conversations and special events much like this year's slate.
