05/06/2025
Yesterday, Rome hosted a press conference presenting the 25th FICE Artistic Cinema Meeting that will take place from 30 September to 3 October 2025 in the conurbation of Nova Gorica and Gorizia.
The 25th FICE Artistic Cinema Meeting, one of the most anticipated and important events in Italian cinema, will be held for the first time across two cities and two nations, on the occasion of the European Capital of Culture 2025 Nova Gorica - Gorizia.
Having reached the milestone of a quarter of a century of activity, the FICE Artistic Cinema Meeting are a point of reference for the entire operating chain of Italian cinema: producers, distributors, exhibitors, authors, journalists, festival organisers and institutional representatives meet every year to exchange views, discover a preview of the new season's work and reflect on the industry's future.
The programme of the 2025 edition will consist of four intense days dedicated to cinema, with preview screenings, moments of in-depth analysis, events with authors and actors, and discussion spaces open to the public and experts. The activities will mainly take place at the Kinemax in Gorizia, the Mediateca Ugo Casiraghi, Casa Krainer and the UGG - Unione Ginnastica Goriziana, which for the first time will host both the award ceremony and the gala dinner. Meetings for general public will take place in the two cultural centres in Gorizia and Nova Gorica, while the final day is scheduled in Ljubljana, with institutional meetings and promotion of cross-border culture.
"The FICE Artistic Cinema Meetings are a unique moment for the film industry. To have the opportunity to be part of it in a special edition for GO! 2025 in Gorizia and Nova Gorica, makes us very proud," commented the director of the EGTC GO Romina Kocina. "A confirmation that our cross-border territory is an inspiration for many artists and is chosen for hosting artistic residencies on the topic of cross-border dialogue and communication. A territory that can also set a good example."
"For me, a film critic at heart, Italy is that moment when, in Fellini's Rome, the frescoes vanish in contact with air; it is that moment when, in Rossellini's Journey to Italy, Ingrid Bergman is shocked with the petrified lovers of Pompeii; it is the moment when we are forced to look away from the unbearable tortures of Pasolini's Salò. And then, thanks to the European Capital of Culture, you suddenly find yourself immersed in I pugni in tasca (Fists in the Pocket) with Marco Bellocchio, watching Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (New Cinema Paradiso) with Giuseppe Tornatore and evaluating short films with Gabriele Salvatores! Precisely because Friuli - Venezia Giulia has invested so ambitiously in the European Capital of Culture, the FICE Artistic Cinema Meetings now take a further step forward connecting two cinematographies and two cinema cultures," said GO! 2025 programme director Stojan Pelko.
The press conference was also attended by FICE President Giuliana Fantoni, the President of the Palazzo del Cinema/Hiša Filma Association, the Director of Kinemax Giuseppe Longo, Vice-President and Regional Councillor for Culture Mario Anzil and the Mayor of Gorizia Rodolfo Ziberna.
During an official ceremony, the meetings will also see the symbolic handover of the baton from the mayor of Lucca, Mario Pardini—who hosted the event in 2024—to the mayors of Gorizia and Nova Gorica, Rodolfo Ziberna and Samo Turel, marking a new chapter of the FICE meetings in the direction of european cooperation. Like every year, the event will also present an opportunity to strengthen the connection between auteur cinema and general public, through free screenings, activities for schools, and moments of dialogue that enhance the theatres of the territory as living places of culture and participation.
Promoted and organised by the Federazione Italiana del Cinema d'Essai (FICE) and the Associazione Palazzo del Cinema/Hiša Filma, the initiative is realised thanks to the support of MIC - Direzione Generale Cinema e Audiovisivo, Friuli - Venezia Giulia region, Gorizia Municipality, GO! 2025 and EGTC GO, with the patronage of ANEC and AGIS Triveneto.
