Lecce welcomed Saverio Costanzo, the “Protagonist of Italian Cinema” at the 26th edition of the European Film Festival, honoring him with the Golden Olive Tree Award for Career Achievement (Premio Ulivo d’Oro alla Carriera).

As part of the section dedicated to great figures of European cinema, the Festival paid tribute to Saverio Costanzo, the focal point of the “Protagonists of Italian Cinema” section.

The session, moderated by Enrico Magrelli, took the audience on a fascinating journey into the creative world of Costanzo—one of the most significant authors in Italian cinema over the last twenty years. It offered an opportunity to retrace an original and consistent artistic path, one capable of combining psychological introspection, narrative tension, and a humanist gaze.

The program featured six feature films recounting the director’s artistic evolution:

– Private (2004)
– Auschwitz 2006 (2007)
– In Memory of Me (In memoria di me, 2007)
– The Solitude of Prime Numbers (La solitudine dei numeri primi, 2009)
– Hungry Hearts (2015)
– Finally Dawn (Finalmente l’alba, 2023)

With this tribute, the European Film Festival reaffirms its commitment to celebrating both the masters and the new voices of our continent’s cinema, offering the audience a privileged insight into the protagonists who have redefined its language and sensibility.