Gattopardo CineFestival 2026: TALIA tells the story of cinema in Ciminna

Nine days of cinema, music, theatre, meetings and entertainment, in a place where cinema is part of the area’s history.

From 18 to 26 July 2026 Ciminna hosted the eighth edition of the Gattopardo CineFestival, an event created to strengthen the link between the village and great cinema. It was here that Luchino Visconti chose to recreate Donnafugata for some of the most famous scenes of Il Gattopardo.

For TALIA the festival was one of the central moments of the communication work carried out with the Municipality of Ciminna for Estate Ciminnese 2026.

Cinema takes centre stage again in Ciminna

The festival brought to the village some leading names of Italian cinema, television and entertainment.

Among the guests present over the different days:

Barbara Bouchet
Vanessa Gravina
Sergio Friscia
Stefano Masciarelli
Ornella Giusto
Maria Grazia Cucinotta
Manila Nazzaro
Pietro Tenoglio
Giannandrea Pecorelli

Several events were also hosted by Roberta Giuffrè.

Barbara Bouchet opened the festival, while Vanessa Gravina, Pietro Tenoglio and Giannandrea Pecorelli were the stars of the evening dedicated to the Ciminna CortoFest. Sergio Friscia accompanied the open-air cinema event, while Stefano Masciarelli and Ornella Giusto took part in the evening of 24 July.

The grand finale saw Manila Nazzaro as host and Maria Grazia Cucinotta presenting the Premio Gattopardo 2026, accompanied by a concert by the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra.

Nine days of cinema and entertainment

The event was opened by the Kids Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo.

The festival alternated between the Ciminna CortoFest, open-air cinema, meetings, the theatre show Il Principe dei Poveri, a parade in historical costumes by the Belle Époque association and several moments dedicated to the stars of Italian cinema.

A programme able to bring together different languages and turn Ciminna, for more than a week, into a real meeting place for cinema, culture and audiences.

Telling the festival’s story, every day

Our job was to follow the Gattopardo CineFestival on the ground, building a continuous story of the different days.

We took care of photo production, video production and live social coverage, telling the story of the guests, the shows, the audience and the places of Ciminna.

What happened on stage, and everything else that lives around a festival: arrivals, encounters, backstage, details, emotions and the local area.

A story designed to be lived in real time and, at the same time, to build an archive of images and video able to convey the identity of the whole event.

Cinema and promotion of the local area

The Gattopardo CineFestival shows well the value a cultural event can have for a small town.

Ciminna is not simply the location of the event: it is part of its identity.

The festival starts from the historic relationship with Il Gattopardo to talk about contemporary cinema, culture and local development, creating new opportunities to make the village known.

And this is precisely one of the aspects we tried to put at the centre of the communication: telling the story of the big guests while also showing Ciminna, its spaces and its community.

A festival to live and to tell

For TALIA, working on the Gattopardo CineFestival meant continuing our work with the Public Administration, using communication and media production to bring people closer to the cultural initiatives of the area.

Day after day we told the story of a festival able to bring together memory and the contemporary, big names and the local community, cinema and territory.

Because in Ciminna, Il Gattopardo is not only a memory of the past.

It continues to be a story worth telling.

In collaboration with Again Srls