Villerupt Italian Film Festival

The largest Italian film festival outside of Italy

Born in November 1976 on the initiative of young cinephiles from the Villerupt Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture, the Villerupt Italian Film Festival has become, in nearly fifty years, the most important gathering for Italian cinema outside of Italy. Its creation was no accident: Villerupt, a former steel town in the Lorraine's Pays Haut region, has at least 60% of its population of Italian origin, heirs to the great waves of immigration linked to the steel industry.

During the first edition, from November 9 to 14, 1976, a dozen films in their original version with subtitles were screened, attracting over 3,500 spectators. This unexpected success convinced the organizers to repeat the experience. From one edition to the next, attendance has steadily grown, exceeding 30,000 admissions as early as 1983 and now reaching an average of 40,000 admissions per edition.

A rich and demanding program

Every autumn, the festival offers nearly three weeks of around 70 films spread across 250 screenings in six cinemas located in Villerupt, Audun-le-Tiche, and Luxembourg (Kulturfabrik in Esch-sur-Alzette, Starlight CNA Cinema in Dudelange). The program covers the entire spectrum of contemporary and heritage Italian cinema:

• Competition Films: about fifteen recent works selected from the Italian production of the year
• Previews and films not yet released in France
• Thematic Retrospectives: each edition highlights a theme or a city (Venice in 2025, workers and algorithms in 2024)
• Tributes to major figures in Italian cinema (Marcello Mastroianni in 2024, Andrea Segre in 2025)
• Documentaries, short films, and independent films

The Amilcar Awards

Each year, the festival presents the prestigious Amilcar Awards, named after the mythical founder of the town of Villerupt. Five distinct juries—composed of film professionals, journalists, cinema operators, high school students, and the general public—reward the best films in competition:

• Jury's Amilcar: awarded by the professional jury
• Critics' Amilcar: awarded by journalists
• Youth Jury's Amilcar: voted by high school students
• Cinema Operators' Amilcar: chosen by French cinema directors
• Audience's Amilcar: chosen by spectators

In addition, the Amilcar Award of the City of Villerupt is presented to a major figure in Italian cinema for their entire career.

Strong territorial roots

The festival is much more than just a film event: it is a vector of cultural identity for the Pays Haut Val d'Alzette, a cross-border territory between Lorraine and Luxembourg. Supported by the Pôle de l'Image and over a hundred volunteers, it mobilizes an entire community around Italian culture, cinema, and living together. Professionalized in 1998, the festival benefits from the support of the Grand Est Region, the Meurthe-et-Moselle Department, the Pays Haut Val d'Alzette Community of Communes, and the CNC.