Middle East Now
From October 6 to 11, Florence welcomes the 17th edition of Middle East Now. Screenings and events will take place at Cinema La Compagnia, Cinema Astra and venues across the city. This year’s theme, Radical Movements, shifts the focus from imagining alternative realities to exploring movement and action. Through film, documentaries, visual art, music, theatre and food, the festival examines migration, displacement and the social and political movements shaping the contemporary Middle East, while challenging familiar stereotypes and preserving historical memory.
Among the highlights is Palestinian filmmaker Mohammed Sawwaf’s Gaza’s Twins, Come Back to Me, following a mother’s struggle to reunite with her twin sons, separated from her at birth by war. Moroccan director Hind Bensari’s Out of School portrays siblings in a remote Atlas Mountains village whose education is cut short, while Iraqi filmmaker Zahraa Ghandour’s Flana gives voice to girls abandoned, abused and killed because they are deemed unwanted. Iranian director Mehrdad Oskouei’s A Fox Under a Pink Moon offers an intimate portrait of an Afghan refugee through five years of mobile-phone footage and surreal animation.
FánHua Chinese Film Festival
Two galloping horses pull a carriage along a road that unfurls like a strip of film in the poster for the sixth FánHuā Chinese Film Festival, returning to Cinema La Compagnia from October 14 to 18. Titled 曳 – Scorrere (“flow”), the image transforms cinema into a journey, bringing together Chinese symbolism and Italian artistic tradition in a dreamlike visual landscape. The festival continues its mission of showcasing contemporary Chinese cinema, exploring changing perspectives, languages and stories while creating opportunities for cultural exchange between China and Italy. Over five days, audiences can expect a programme dedicated to discovering new voices and developments in Chinese filmmaking, with Florence once again serving as a meeting point between two cinematic and cultural worlds. The festival is organized by Associazione FánHuā in cooperation with Zhong Art International, under the artistic direction of Paolo Bertolin.
Festival di Cinema e Donne
From October 21 to 25, the Festival di Cinema e Donne returns to Cinema La Compagnia, bringing together some of the most compelling new voices in international filmmaking alongside a tribute to Jane Campion. A fixture on Florence’s cultural calendar since 1979, the festival has long championed women filmmakers, with a focus on first and second features. The 2026 edition will celebrate Campion, the Oscar-winning New Zealand director and the first woman to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes, as special guest. Campion will present a personal Carte Blanche programme and join audiences to mark the 30th anniversary of The Portrait of a Lady. The festival continues to combine a celebration of established masters with a commitment to emerging female directors, while exploring the continuing gender inequalities affecting access to funding, careers and decision-making across the audiovisual industry.
Other film festivals in Florence this autumn and winter
October 28–November 1: France Odeon – Festival del Cinema Francese
November 2–8: Festival dei Popoli. Festival Internazionale del Film Documentario
November 11–15: Lo Schermo dell’Arte Festival di Cinema e Arte Contemporanea
November 19–22: Florence Queer Film Festival
December 3–8: River to River Florence Indian Film Festival
December 10: Premio N.I.C.E. Citta di Firenze
