After the 2025 edition Claudio Gubitosi will leave Giffoni, the film festival for children that he founded in 1971 and which over the years has established itself as one of the most important Italian cinematographic events.
The announcement came in an interview with the newspaper Il Mattino in which he explained how he is living a long cycle, 55 years, which is about to end and took stock of what he has done in these years.
'It won't just be a moment of transition, it will be a boundary between what has been and what will come – he said – but when it comes to the balance of a life, mine, everything changes. It is no longer simply a sum, it is a definitive question, a profound need. My balance starts from a question: what have I built from 1971 to today? It is not rhetoric, it is not nostalgia.
It is the need to look my story in the eyes and tell it honestly, with all its victories and its scars. It is my life and it is also the story of Giffoni. One corresponds to the other.
Decades of events, ideas, difficulties, successes, intertwined lives. A path that has been the subject of economic, journalistic, biographical, sociological and cultural anthropological studies”.
The idea of a festival, which over the years has grown in fame, content, guests, starting from the small town of Giffoni Valle Piana, from a boy, then 'eighteen, without studies, training, specific or professional vocations, support and finances', he recalled in the interview, 'seemed impossible. And yet, it happened.
It was only possible with absolute dedication, sacrificing every moment of my time and my personal life. I insisted, called attention, found solutions to convince everyone that something big was happening and that it was necessary to believe in my stories and my visions. I dedicated my life to Giffoni.
I will avoid listing the sacrifices and renunciations, perhaps because I am used to not thinking about them, certain that I have made the right choice. I know that I have dedicated my existence to something urgent, useful for the community, for everyone.' A festival dedicated, said Gubitosi, 'to the happiness and life of millions of children, young people and families.'
Over the years, he recalled, 'each year has brought new opportunities, obstacles to overcome, horizons to explore. My work has been made of victories, but also of fears. In the end, without realizing it immediately, I invented a profession, an identity. And I dedicated myself to it. And this is precisely the result that I share today.'
Giffoni has also generated a significant economic impact on the territory, job opportunities for many young people and has involved dozens of companies. Gubitosi listed the list of stars and personalities who have been guests of the festival, from President Gorbachev to Robert De Niro, from Meryl Streep to John Travolta, from Nicolas Cage to Richard Gere, Bryan Cranston, Orlando Bloom, Jennifer Aniston, Kit Harington, Jessica Chastain, passing through the greatest of Italian cinema or Nobel Prize winners such as Rita Levi Montalcini and Lech Walesa.
'No one ever stopped to think that Giffoni was just a small town in Southern Italy. Indeed, this was the common thread of a story capable of creating identity and giving life to an unprecedented narrative.
We have broken an unshakable taboo: the idea that 'certain things' can only be born in big cities and places where there are all the services. And certainly not in the South! At the time it seemed unthinkable' he said.
“Today,” he continued, “as I approach 75 years of age, I feel it is my right and my duty to highlight the results of the immense work that has been done and that is there for all to see. Transparency, honesty, loyalty, balance, respect for all have always been the guidelines of our immense work.
In this long history of over half a century we have never had any issues in the management of public funds, ensuring all procedures and - I say it again - transparency. Except for an investigation in 2024, still ongoing, by the Court of Auditors for one of the sectors put out to tender for which we have provided all the counter-arguments with deeds and documents.
And he said: “When, in February 2024, the President of the Campania Region Vincenzo De Luca announced to everyone that the funds for Culture and Entertainment were no longer there, due to delays in signing the Development and Cohesion agreement with the Government, I only allowed myself to alert everyone to the fact that Giffoni might not happen anymore.
I defended the Festival – Gubitosi declared – I defended this company, I put my face and my life on the line and I defended thousands of boys and girls who were waiting for Giffoni as they wait for Christmas.
In this last phase in the management of the structures built and that the municipality has given us in agreement, at least 450 thousand euros per year are needed and we have always been available to let them be used free of charge by many schools and associations in the area and beyond. We have never held back in becoming cinema operators too, a unique case of its kind among Italian festivals with a regular programming in the theaters, offering a service to the entire area at prices reduced by 50% compared to other neighboring movie theaters.
It is an investment for the structures that have been built, a service due of which, once again, I am proud. Often, unfortunately for reasons not attributable to my will, we have not been able to respect the timing of payments relating to the contracts signed by employees, collaborators, companies and those who in various capacities contribute to the overall life of our activities.
They are the central hub of all our work and it is thanks to their understanding that today we continue on the path that is the only one that allows the festival to take place.
There has been no shortage of disappointments and broken promises by public investors over the years, and commitments had to be honored thanks to loans signed with bank guarantees in a personal capacity by members of the Board of Directors and myself. I have remained here, in my land, despite the obstacles, the ostracism, the sirens that called me elsewhere with promises of personal advantages.
I don't say this with pride, on the contrary. It weighs on me to have to underline it, because I never wanted it to be necessary".
Speaking of his family and the many young people who work in the festival, he added: 'Among them, my son Jacopo, whom the Authority hired 5 years ago and who is the General Director. Together with my daughter, Neviaclaudia, they were born and raised from day one in the Festival, with the Festival, always bringing out their humility and personality.
I don't understand but sometimes I understand those who don't know the history well, the evolution of the idea of the Festival very much linked to the history of my family. My mother in the early years replaced the restaurants, my father even though he didn't understand well what I wanted to do supported me financially by signing promissory notes in the bank.
I mention these moments to first of all honor my family and I add my wife, Alfonsina Novellino, who has always been close to me, taking care of the social aspects in the last twenty years. Like many, she was hired at the Festival and was the first to resign when, together with others, there were serious budget problems. You have to be careful when talking about Giffoni.
You have to have respect for an idea, for a story, for a cultural enterprise born from nothing and built with effort, with vision, with dedication”. 'Giffoni is a symbol of life. Of happiness. Of beauty that renews itself. And it is for this reason, after what I have expressed here, that the time has come to communicate to everyone that in this 2025 with 55 years of history and 74 of personal life I will leave the direction of the Festival at the end of the year.
How many times have I asked myself who in the world has such a long life history in the direction of a Festival? I remember the questions that many journalists and young people asked me. I will limit myself to two specific cases, the first is Robert Redford with Sundance born in 1978, 7 years after Giffoni. The second is Robert De Niro, with Tribeca born in 2002, 31 years after Giffoni.
And then the legendary Gilles Jacob who has directed the Cannes Film Festival at various levels since 1977 and who has no longer had any responsibilities since 2014. To the questions I answered, what fault is it of mine if I started at only 18 years old? The team will be up to the task of continuing this path.
As for me, from January 2026, XNUMX, with the help of God, I will develop other initiatives such as the Campus of Higher Education, the entry into the world of production with animated and fiction serial films, and among these one of the most beautiful and interesting spaces: narrating wherever they call me the journey, the path and the successes of this beautiful and unique Italian story" he added.
Article published on March 21, 2025 - 19pm
