The Giffoni Film Festival is an international high-value event dedicated to the youth, taking place every summer, for ten days, in the village of Giffoni Valle Piana (Salerno), a few kilometers away from the Amalfi Coast. The Festival was launched in 1971 by its founder and current Director, Claudio Gubitosi, who had the vision of a film festival in which young people were the jurors, voting for the best movie and awarding it with the “Grifoned’Oro”, the official prize. 

Along with the viewing of movies, Giffoni has always been a great opportunity for young people to discuss films with writers, actors and producers and debate the issues that concern them all. 

The event evolves every year almost 5.000 young people from 47 countries, hosted with local families dwelling in the Salerno area, are divided in different jurors’ age categories (up to 18 years old). During the event the village of Giffoni Valle Piana takes a magic atmosphere. The festival represents a unique opportunity for the young jurors to share opinions and views, to meet new friends and to participate in enriching debates. In Giffoni they live an unforgettable experience.

The theme of the 2019 edition of the Festival is “Air”, as part of a three-years project which aims at raising awareness on the protection of the environment. In 2018 the theme was “Water”, while next year it will be “Earth”. The first international celebrity to have announced his participation is Evan Peters, with many others to follow in the upcoming days.

“The Giffoni Film Festival is a unique social and cultural experience for teenagers to live. They are the engine of an international event that goes around them. Cinema is the subject of the Festival, but the real goal is to make young people from all over the world to be protagonists at center of an international event in a wonderful landscapes”, the Ambassador of Italy, Massimo Marotti declared.

MARCH Lebanon is a local non-profit, non-governmental organization that seeks to promote social cohesion and personal freedoms. Its journey began back in 2011 fighting against censorship and advocating for equal rights for all Lebanese communities. In 2015, MARCH expanded its scope of work and embarked on a new adventure. It all started in Tripoli, in one of the country’s most marginalized areas. Peace building and conflict resolution became a pillar of MARCH’s work and gave birth to unique initiatives to help reconcile the youth of Beb El Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, two feuding neighborhoods ravaged by sectarian conflicts. MARCH has developed a distinctive holistic and rehabilitative approach. The organization believes that arts and culture are powerful catalysts that can foster tolerance, reconciliation and long-term sustainable peace building. It utilizes a diverse set of tools to encourage both constructive dialogue and personal development.

The Italian Embassy thanks “March” for accepting to assist three Lebanese boys and girls in their trip to Italy and A.N.Boukatherfor supporting the participation of the Lebanese delegation to the 2019 Giffoni Film Festival. Established in 1927, A.N.Boukather is the exclusive distributor in Lebanon of the prestigious Italian brands Piaggio, Vespa, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi. “It is a great pleasure and honor to partner with the Italian Embassy in Lebanon and March, with whom we share similar values of empowering young Lebanese talents, opening their horizons and brightening their future and the one of beautiful country Lebanon” stated A.N.B. Chairman Nicolas Boukather.