Bologna, August 5, 2026 – “In these hours after the appointment I think of my parents and what my mother might have said to me… ‘Luchino, you have become like Gian Luigi Rondi’, teasing me a lot.” Gian Luca Farinelli was appointed yesterday artistic director of the Fondazione Accademia del Cinema Italiano – David di Donatello Awards and besides the “sense of responsibility and enthusiasm” for the role, he cannot help but reflect on the personal journey that brought him to the Roman title. Which will not take away anything, of course, from his role as director of the Cineteca di Bologna and the festival Il Cinema Ritrovato.
Farinelli, how did you welcome this new role?
“I am happy, many asked me and I accepted, even though I am very well in Bologna doing what I do. The thing also surprises me a lot because the activity we have more or less always done with the Cineteca has been to deal with things that did not interest the main road, right? Already the two golden tickets obtained by the Modernissimo which in 2024 and 2025 became the single-screen cinema with the most tickets sold in Italy, had quite shocked me, they had already overturned everything I imagined I could do in life. So this role is a new very surprising and prestigious thing, even if here in Bologna we have built something wonderful.”
They must have asked you to accept the role precisely because you built something wonderful in your city.
“Certainly. Then also this being a bit outside the games and at the same time representing nonetheless a culture of Italian cinema with also an international dimension.”
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Does the Academy want renewal?
“Of course and I think of the appointment in this sense. In recent years with Piera Detassis, the David has started an important renewal process, with the expansion of voters and a series of right choices made. The renewal must be carried forward and taking a person so outside the Roman games I think is a sign of a will that goes in that direction.”
What can Italian cinema expect from your arrival?
“It seems like an exaggerated question! Certainly it is not me nor even the most prestigious awards that can change the course of Italian cinema. However, lowering the expectations of the question, I think one should expect the work of someone who loves cinema, knows its history and present, and loves research and popular strength, who has worked a lifetime to share this passion. I will therefore try to bring a more international air and further grow the authority of the Davids inspired by what is done outside our country.”
