The Social World Film Festival 2025 will be remembered as the most international edition ever, but also as the one that, more than any other, celebrated not only professional, but profoundly human and creative milestones.
Among those honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award, the actor and director Sergio Rubini, witness of a lucid and passionate thought, matured in forty years of cinema made of encounters, transformations, and above all of a deep love for the art of storytelling.
To explain the choice to award the Lifetime Achievement Award Sergio Rubini was presented by the Festival's director himself, Giuseppe Alessio Nuzzo. In introducing him as a guest of this edition, he wanted to underline the strong connection between the event he directed and the work of the Apulian artist:
«When we thought about the program of guests and awards of the Social World Film Festival, I reflected on your biography and I remembered with pleasure your forty years of career. I wanted to celebrate them here, together, also because one of your first films with Federico Fellini gives its name to our press arena. […] For me you are a true beacon and Fellini is the director who inspires me, and talking about your career is also an opportunity to reflect on how it all began. »
A tribute welcomed with visible involvement by Rubini, who said he was honoured by an award “not taken for granted”. Making the moment even more special was the afternoon meeting with the young people during an intense and participatory masterclass, in which Rubini shared his ideas extensively, revealing his human depth even before his artistic one. "You feel like a craftsman," he said, "you've learned some things, and then a boy comes along and you pass them on to him. It's like a gift."
The bond between Rubini and the Social World Film Festival has proven to be much deeper than a simple recognition of his career. Going beyond the award, the artist has outlined a vision of cinema that fully reflects the social vocation of the event: a careful look at reality, capable of conveying its complexities through the language of the big screen.
Such a correspondence of intents gave rise to an almost inevitable question: "This is a social festival. In your opinion, does contemporary cinema pay attention to marginal voices?"
Rubini's response was clear and heartfelt: "We need more, for sure. But cinema does that, because it tells the story of society. I was struck by a speech De Niro gave at Cannes: he said that cinema is inclusion, sharing, without borders. And he's right.
It is born silent, it goes beyond words and local cultures. This is why the powerful fear it: it is not aligned, it is just culture. And culture belongs to everyone. It is also the responsibility of the viewer, however: we must give light to certain films. Today we live on playlists, and if certain titles are left out, we risk falling asleep, of letting ourselves be guided by those who want us to be passive».
The artist, with great generosity, and following the flow of the conversation, then dwelt on the essential aspects of his production, in particular the biographical one:
“In biographical narratives such as those dedicated to the De Filippo brothers or to Leopardi, what do you think is the right compromise between adherence to the facts and reinterpretation?”
The artist, with great generosity and following the flow of the conversation, then dwelt on the essential aspects of his production, in particular the biographical one - from The De Filippo brothers at work on Leopardi — focusing on the centrality of the story and the delicate issue of the right compromise between adherence to the facts and freedom of interpretation. Rubini clarified how, in both works, he pursued a single guiding idea: to restore authenticity to the characters described, freeing them from the superstructures inherited from tradition to reach their deepest essence.
According to his vision, to access an authentic truth, it is sometimes necessary to perform an “act of narrative betrayal”, as demonstrated by the choice to eliminate the hump of the poet from Recanati to concentrate on thought.
A symbolic act, which reflects the desire to bring out the poet's inner voice, stripped of outdated iconography. In this way, Rubini gives historical and literary figures a surprising relevance, making apparently distant concepts more necessary than ever today. The response from the public - and especially from the younger ones - has confirmed the strength and necessity of this approach.
To overcome the scrupulous adherence to historical details, Rubini said he was inspired by the famous Amadeus by Miloš Forman, a film capable of conveying the spirit and vision of Mozart without faithfully following the chronology of the facts.
“I believe that sometimes you have to “betray” to tell the truth. Even with Leopardi, for example, I took away his hump, but I tried to tell his thoughts, which is the most important thing. My reference is Forman’s “Amadeus”: a film that doesn’t tell Mozart in historical details, but manages to convey his essence, his vision of music and the world. And it made his music popular. It’s the same thing I tried to do with Leopardi.”
A job, that of the filmmaker, full of satisfactions and articulated by a mix of creativity and artistic results often acclaimed by the public as feats. A job that, however, should not be idealized and of which should not be made an unequal narration with respect to all the angles concealing the reality of the facts.
Art, like life, is complex and changeable and for this very reason, the director spoke openly to the students of the masterclasses and to the press.: “This is the job of failures – he spoke with the calm sincerity that distinguishes him -, we are all good at winning but the real test is losing. From loss and failure everything is born: this job holds great satisfactions and just as many frustrations, many consents but also numerous doors slammed in your face mixed with phones that don't ring. You have to deal with it. Losing is the basis for winning in this job".
Frank and incisive words that make us understand the great gap that exists between artistic ambitions and dreams and the demands of everyday life, reinforced by the intimate story of his relationship with his father: “My father was a railway worker. As a boy I had a conflictual relationship with him but as I grew up I resolved it successfully. I love my father, I have a beautiful memory, over time I understood him. I love him for his indecisions, for his fragilities that made him authentic: he was afflicted because he dreamed of the world of cinema and at the same time he did a job he didn't love.
But she never abandoned that passion, she pursued it secondarily. A weak choice? Absolutely not, she had enormous courage. It takes strength not to abandon your passions despite the disappointments and unexpected events of life”. A hymn to all the aspiring or professionals in the sector who are in precarious employment and are unable to turn their passion into a full-fledged job, having to sacrifice themselves and fight tooth and nail every day to not give up their dream.
A dose of reality and humility from Sergio Rubini who continued: "I don't believe in people who say what they are. I believe, instead, in those who say what they would have liked to be. We start out whole but then we change throughout life, because we are the continuous mediation, the perpetual reworking and the result of a compromise between what we dream and what happens to us".
He then concluded by giving some advice to the younger ones: “Join your forces, combine and strengthen your intelligence and creativity in this difficult environment. Establish friendships based on sharing a common passion, first of all. Share. Sharing can give rise to some internal work if it doesn't come from the outside. Create opportunities. Only in this way can you move something.”
Annamaria Cafaro
Emanuela Francini
Susy Del Giudice and Giovanni Esposito at the Social World Film Festival in Vico Equense with the film “Nero”
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The annual film festival aims to launch audiovisual products that have an impact on the social world. The two actors, in fact, presented their latest project that was nominated for the Nastri D'Argento, the film "Nero" directed by Esposito.
Guest, during the last day of the fifteenth edition of the Social World Film Festival di Vico Equense, the Roman director Claudio Giovannesi to talk to the masterclass students, the press and the public about his film "Hey Joe", work that was screened at the CineTeatro Aequa and is out of competition in the Big Screen section.
The film stars Francesco Di Napoli, James Franco, and Francesca Montuori. The plot revolves around Dean Barry, an American veteran who had a relationship with a Neapolitan woman during World War II and returns to Naples, Italy, in the early 70s to meet his son Enzo and try to make up for twenty-five years of absence.
Napoletano, classe ‘2001, l’attore e musicista Francesco Panarella è stato il primo ospite della quindicesima edizione del Social World Film Festival, kermesse cinematografica dedicata al cinema sociale presso gli spazi della città di Vico Equense. Panarella, di concerto con il regista e direttore artistico di Giuseppe Alessio Nuzzo, ha raccontato la sua esperienza sul set…
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Comments (1)
The article is very interesting and shows how cinema can be a vehicle for social change. Sergio Rubini is right when he says that cinema is inclusion, but unfortunately there are still many barriers to overcome to give voice to everyone.