Riviera International Film Festival

Riviera International Film Festival

Location	Sestri Levante, Liguria, Italy
Founded	2016
Awards	Best Movie, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Documentary, Grand Jury Prize, Career Award, Icon Award, Special Mention
No. of films	Official Competition: 10 Films by directors under 35 / 6 Feature Documentaries on the Environment
Language	International
Website	rivierafilm.org

The Riviera International Film Festival (RIFF) is an annual film festival held in Sestri Levante, Italy, which previews new films of various genres from around the world. The invitation-only festival is held annually at the end of April/beginning of May and was founded in 2016 by Los Angeles–based film producer Stefano Gallini-Durante.^[1] The festival's Official Competition is reserved for carefully selected works by directors under 35 and for feature documentaries on the Environment and Climate Change.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Jury

An international jury composed of a president and various film, culture, and art personalities, who determine the prizes for the feature films in the competition.^[6]^[7]

Year	Jury president	Jury members	Testimonial
2019	J. Miles Dale	Josephine De La Baume, Nils Hartmann, Cristina Donadio, Eddy Moretti, Yalitza Aparicio, Silvia Locatelli, Vincenzo Venuto	Stella Egitto
2018	Matthew Modine	Violante Placido, Ed Solomon, John Campisi, Paola Jacobbi, Dr. Nigel Tapper, Cote De Pablo, Gaia Trussardi	Marta Perego
2017	David Franzoni	Marton Csokas, Gianni Quaranta, Valentina Lodovini, Marta Perego	Alessandra Mastronardi

Selection

2019

2018

2017

It's Only the End of the World (Dir. Xavier Dolan; Producers Xavier Dolan, Sylvain Corbell, Nancy Grant, Elisha Karmitz, Nathanael Karmitz, Michel Merkt; Cast Nathalie Baye, Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel, Léa Seydoux, Gaspard Ulliel)
Embrace of the Serpent(Dir. Ciro Guerra; Producer Cristina Gallego; Cast Nilbio Torres, Jan Bijvoet, Antonio Bolivar, Brionne Davis)
Autumn Lights (Dir. Angad Aulakh; Producers Guy Kent, Angad Aulakh, Ashley M. Kent, David Oskar Olafsson, Arni Filippusson; Cast Guy Kent, Marta Gastini)
Sami Blood (Dir. Amanda Kernell; Producer Lars G. Lindstrom; Cast Lene Cecilia Sparrok, Mia Sparrok, Maj Doris Rimpi, Olle Sarri)
Marija (Dir. Michael Koch; Producers Christoph Friedel, Claudia Steffen; Cast Margarita Breitkreiz, Georg Friedrich, Sahin Eryilmaz)
Baden Baden (Dir. Rachel Lang; Producers Valérie Bournonville, Pierre-Louis Cassou, Jeremy Forn, Joseph Rouschop; Cast Salome Richard, Claude Gensac, Lazare Gousseau)
I Was a Dreamer (Dir. Michele Vannucci; Producer Giovanni Pompilli; Cast Mirko Frezza, Alessandro Borghi, Vittorio Viviani)
As I Open My Eyes (Dir. Leyla Bouzid; Producers Sandra da Fonesca, Imed Marzouk; Cast Baya Medhaffer, Ghalia Benali, Montassar Ayari)
Our Last (Dir. Ludovico di Martino; Producers Alessandro Amato, Ludovico Di Martini, Gabriele Luppi; Cast Fabrizio Colica, Guglielmo Poggi, Giobbe Covatta)
Out of Love (Dir. Paloma Aguilera; Producers Arnold Heslenfeld, Laurette Schillings, Frans Van Gestel; Cast Naomi Velissariou, Daniil Vorobyev)

Awards

In competition

2017 Winners^[8]^[9]

Grand Jury Prize for Best Picture – Embrace of the Serpent by Ciro Guerra
Jury Prize for Best Director – Amanda Kernell for Sami Blood
Jury Prize for Best Actor – Daniil Vorobyov for Out of Love
Jury Prize for Best Actress – Baya Medhaffer for As I Open My Eyes
Special Mention Award – Baden Baden

2017 Nominees^[8]

Best Director
- Xavier Dolan for It's Only the End of the World
- Ciro Guerra for Embrace of the Serpent
- Angad Aulakh for Autumn Lights
- Michael Koch for Marija
- Rachel Lang for Baden Baden
- Michel Vannucci for I Was A Dreamer
- Leyla Bouzid for As I Open My Eyes
- Ludovico di Martino for Our Last
- Paloma Aguilera for Out of Love
Best Actress
- Nathalie Baye for It's Only the End of the World
- Léa Seydoux for It's Only the End of the World
- Marion Cotillard for It's Only the End of the World
- Marta Gastini for Autumn Lights
- Lene Cecilia Sparrok for Sami Blood
- Margarita Breitkreiz for Marija
- Salomé Richard for Baden Baden
- Mia Erika Sparrok for Sami Blood
- Naomi Velissariou for Out of Love
Best Actor
- Vincent Cassel for It's Only the End of the World
- Gaspard Ulliel for It's Only the End of the World
- Guy Kent for Autumn Lights
- Olle Sarri for Sami Blood
- Georg Friedrich for Marija
- Mirko Frezzo for Our Last
- Lazare Gousseau for Baden Baden
- Ayari Montassar for As I Open My Eyes
- Fabrizio Colica for Our Last

References

^ Pagliettini, Marco. "The Riviera International Film Festival has ended: all prizes". SpettaKolo!.
^ Zorzoli, Barbara. "Riviera International Film Festival". Vogue Italia.
^ "Festival: The Riviera International Film Festival". Cinema Scandinavia.
^ Cavagnaro, Riccardo. "Riviera International Film Festival – Quer pasticciaccio bello de Sestri Levante". The MaGuffin.
^ Pagliettini, Marco. "Riviera International Film Festival in Sestri Levante: The Program". Spettakolo!.
^ "Sestri: workshop ed eventi speciali al Riviera International Film Festival". Levante News. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
^ Da Redazione, Casarza. "Riviera International Film Festival Begins in Sestri Levante". Tigullio News.
^ ^a ^b "RIFF 2017". RIFF. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
^ Malatesta, Leandro. ""Sameblod" and the first edition of the Riviera International Film Festival". AgoraVox Italia.