“Thinking About Cinema Here Is a Revolutionary Act”: Giffoni Programmer Rosario Minervini Discusses Nurturing Young Audiences Through Doc Storytelling

“Of all the film festivals, Giffoni is the most necessary.”

With these words, François Truffaut captured the spirit of the Giffoni Film Festival (July 17–26) when he first visited it in 1982. Since its founding in 1971 in the small town of Giffoni Valle Piana in southern Italy, Giffoni has grown into a global reference point for cinema made for—and with—young people. In its radical commitment to youth participation, thousands of children and teenagers from all over the world come together each year not just to watch films, but to discuss, debate, and judge them as an official jury.

This bold, inclusive format has created much more than a festival—it has nurtured a dynamic and ever-growing international community of young cinephiles. Over time, it has also become a key space for discovering new talents and shaping the sensibilities of future filmmakers, programmers, and storytellers.

As someone who admired the festival from a very young age—when some of its films were broadcast on television—I’ve always seen Giffoni as a special and imaginative space. It remained a source of inspiration throughout my childhood, and I finally had the chance to attend in person for the first time in 2023. Being there confirmed everything I had sensed from afar: the passion, the sense of community, and the festival’s deep commitment to shaping young minds through cinema.

Within this vibrant ecosystem, the section GEX:DOX plays a special role. Dedicated to documentary films, it brings to the forefront stories that reflect reality with a focus on youth and family relationships. The section attracts not only young jurors but also adult audiences, making it a unique bridge between generations and cinematic languages.

At the heart of GEX:DOX is Rosario Minervini, born in Battipaglia in 1991. A documentary filmmaker and the artistic director of Giffoni’s documentary section, Rosario brings both creative and curatorial expertise. After graduating in 2017 from Rome’s University of Fine Arts with a documentary on the Italian poet Dante Maffia, and further honing his skills at Palermo’s Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Minervini has directed and shot several films presented at international festivals.

His work is characterized by a deep interest in exploring human relationships, social realities, and innovative storytelling. Moreover, he has just put the finishing touches on his debut feature Tirrenica, an Italian-Spanish documentary piecing together a vivid mosaic of unique characters living on the margins of the Salerno–Reggio Calabria motorway.

In this interview for Documentary, Minervini shares insights about his journey as a programmer of GEX:DOX, the distinctive qualities of Giffoni, the challenges and opportunities of curating documentary films for young audiences, and the spirit that animates this dynamic festival section. This interview has been edited.

DOCUMENTARY: When and how did your journey as a programmer for the GEX:DOX section at Giffoni start?

ROSARIO MINERVINI: I started working in the programming team in February 2021. During the first few months, I worked on short films, but from September of the same year, I began taking care of the GEX:DOX strand. My relationship with Giffoni, however, goes back a long way: as a child, I was one of those jurors who filled the cinema halls, and many of my summers have always been marked by the festival’s name.

D: What distinguishes Giffoni and, particularly, the GEX:DOX section from other similar youth-oriented film festivals?

RM: I think Giffoni is, in a way, a miracle. Lost in the Picentini Mountains, far from big cities, in the lesser-known south of Italy. Thinking about Cinema, with a capital C, here is a revolutionary act. Building all of this for children, for teenagers, is a victory in itself.
Here, very young minds from all over the world are constantly shaped, since the jurors—from 3 to 18 years old—come from over 40 countries, making this the center of the world for ten days. GEX:DOX is a relatively young section compared to the 55 years of the festival, but is truly a mirror of the real world, with documentaries from every country focusing on youth and family relationships.

D: How many titles does the section include, and what kind of work do you do with your team?

RM: The competition includes seven titles, chosen between September and June from around two hundred or more films viewed. The selection director, Giovanni Brancaccio, looks for suitable titles for the various festival sections through distribution companies and upcoming releases. By requesting national premieres, we select many films from international festivals, where we discuss which and how many works to screen during the festival. Generally, IDFA, CPH:DOX, and Visions du Réel are the festivals we draw most films from due to the large documentary pool present. Festivals and markets like Berlinale, DocsBarcelona, Rotterdam, and Thessaloniki are also important.

D: Giffoni primarily targets children and teenagers. However, the GEX:DOX section is an exception since many adults also attend the screenings. What kind of approach does this audience require in terms of programming?

RM: Yes, the section mainly addresses the families of our jurors and documentary lovers. The compromise is to maintain the festival’s identity while meeting the needs of an adult audience. Films that can bridge the world of parents and their children, or films that create connections between protagonists and viewers by age, life situation, and needs. The world can be known through documentaries only if there is a pact between the spectator and the witnesses where judgment is suspended, and there, the directors’ skills come into play.

D: How do you balance the artistic component with the educational or social awareness aspect?

RM: It comes naturally. When telling something real and deciding to embark on this adventure, the point of view where one positions oneself is the only thing that sets this boundary. It’s always a matter of choices, especially in documentaries, that define which social components will be touched and how they will be presented. Clearly, artistic choices influence many mechanisms in the creation process, requiring different timing and working methods. What remains for us programmers to see is that the film is composed with the necessity to say something, to tell its story, and that it carries within it what is essential.

D: Is there room for formal experimentation, or are more classic formats still the most effective?

RM: There is always room when we talk about cinema for experimentation, and I believe festivals play a significant role in this scenario. Necessity can be an extremely powerful means to find alternative solutions, and if it can be transformed into communication, then the language of cinema evolves, changes, and amplifies. In the last four years, most of the projects I selected were debut works, precisely because there is a vibrant world everywhere—different ways of storytelling and different necessities that give new life to cinema and just need the right spaces to exist.

D: You said there are films that build bridges between parents and children — can you give us some concrete examples of recent titles and explain how they speak to young audiences or foster intergenerational dialogue?

RM: I can start with the first film in competition this year, Portrait of a Confused Father, or mention works like Bloom or Boyz. These connections can arise from films that show how others experience parenthood and the changes life brings. Empathising with another parent can be a powerful way to better understand our own relationships. Or, as in the case of the other two titles, by observing today’s younger generation and recognizing your own children in them — in terms of age, interests, interactions — you experience a strong emotional response that helps you reposition yourself and look at your life and relationships from a different perspective. Simply put, it helps you understand yourself more.

D: How do you deal with sensitive content such as war, death, sexuality, and mental health with such a young audience? Do any titles or specific cases come to mind?

RM: Absolutely, No Other Land, I am Chance and We Will Not Fade Away come to mind. That said, I don’t think these things can truly be “handled”—emotions are a purely personal matter—but the debate that arises from complex situations is always the deepest, the most open, and, in a way, creates a community.

D: But how do jurors react? Do you recall any strong reactions or discussions that were sparked by a documentary in recent years?

RM: I remember the discussion after the screening of Kix with great interest [ed. the doc revolves around Sanyi, a Budapest boy, and his turbulent childhood]. I didn’t expect such a sharp divide over the protagonist, and it sparked a big discussion about how documentary filmmakers work with their subjects and what it means to suspend judgment. I always believe that, as viewers stepping into someone else’s life, withholding judgment is something we owe them—it’s a form of respect for those who have allowed us to observe their world. Of course, we all hope for some kind of redemption or victory when we watch any film, documentaries included, but life rarely grants that.

D: Do you collaborate with other festivals or institutions to strengthen the visibility of selected titles?

RM: Yes, collaboration with other festivals and institutions is a fundamental part of our mission. Giffoni has always been a platform for dialogue and sharing: we work with many national and international partners—including film festivals, embassies, film schools, cultural institutions, and European networks—to guarantee maximum visibility for the selected films, even beyond the festival itself. Through projects like Giffoni Impact, Giffoni Next Generation, and the Giffoni Network, we support the circulation of titles and promote emerging talent, offering our filmmakers new opportunities to connect with audiences and the industry.

D: Which documentaries have best represented the spirit of GEX:DOX in recent years, and why?

RM: The audience’s voice defines this, I would say. Titles like Lyra, Mighty Afrin: In the Time of the Floods, and Silent Trees clearly embody our festival’s spirit. I’d also like to highlight a few films I truly loved—The Mountain, along with the previously mentioned No Other Land, Kix, and We Will Not Fade Away—all of which, in my view, deserve recognition.

Davide Abbatescianni is a film critic and journalist based in Rome. He works as an International Reporter for Cineuropa and regularly contributes to publications such as Variety, New Scientist, The New Arab, Business Doc Europe, and the Nordisk Film & TV Fond website. He also serves as a programmer for the Torino Film Festival, one of Italy’s largest cinematic gatherings.