The Cinema In Green Festival has returned to animate the wonderful botanical garden of Rome and make dream of dream. Yesterday the international environmental cinema review of the capital was inaugurated, with the screening of the film (out of competition) “Palazzina Laf”. To present it was the actor and director Michele Riondino, who has a particular bond with this Taranto, his hometown.
“I come from a workers’ family and the environmental problem of my city I try to face it from my point of view that is that of an operating tradition. – Riondino said – makes me laugh a lot that we are now accused of being terrorists, eco -terrorists.
The third edition of Cinema In Verde opened with great success: all the projections of the first day have …
Posted by Cinema In Verde on Thursday, September 18, 2025
Laf building: an uncomfortable (and necessary) film about Taranto
“Palazzina Laf”, which has won three David di Donatello 2024, is an uncomfortable but necessary film that opens a gash on Taranto, a city tormented by the presence of the former Ilva steel. The story is set in 1997 and opens with yet another death at work. Caterino Lamanna, a worker who works in the factory, is ready to blame the unions of this tragedy and a manager gives him the task of investigating the activities of a trade unionist and reporting what happens in the factory, making him a spy. Caterino thus begins to stalk his colleagues and arrives at the Laf building, discovering a sort of concentration camp for the workers who have refused the state property.
The question of Taranto is very close to heart to Michele Riondino, so much so that he chose to make his debut as a director with the work “Palazzina Laf”.
“The Tarantino problem was born from how a factory was poorly managed, it was born when those who should manage the industrial complex does not worry about the territory that hosts it and, as in the case of the former Ilva, cares only and only profit and therefore a war between two rights is born: that at work and the right to live in a healthy and clean environment. – underlines Riondino – and the problem is resolved when there is always the man who decides to face him and to taranto And those who are not able to take their responsibility to face a path of solution to the problem. “
The films in competition at cinema in green
The documentary “Taranto after the coal” of the director Andrea Battistuzzi, projected after the presentation of “Palazzina Laf”, also deepened the Tarantina question. The first day of cinema in green ended with the view of two films in competition: Mariposas Negras (by David Baute) and “The World uspide Down” (by Nicolas Vanier).
For the third edition of Cinema in Verde, the theme chosen is “Tales from the changing planet”, an invitation to reflect on the future through courageous visions, stories and transformative actions through the strength of cinema. On the festival days in total there are 6 films in competition:
In addition, there are 4 films in review (including Palazzina Laf by Michele Riondino and Flow by Gints Zilbalodis), 3 workshops and 2 thematic meetings. The final prize of the Estival, the 2025 gold ginkgo, will be awarded on Sunday 21 September by a jury made up of experts from the world of entertainment, culture and environmentalism: Alan Cappelli Goetz, actor and popularizer, Ambassador of the European Pact for the Climate; Barbara Chichiarelli, actress, protagonist in Suburra and M – the son of the century; Rossella Muroni, sociologist and environmentalist, former president of Legambiente and guidance of new re-generations; Ottavia Virzì costume designer, producer and activist, with a strong attention to the environmental impact in design.
To preside over the jury there will be the actor and director Alessandro Preziosi, actor, director and teacher, known for his films and fiction and for projects such as “The Law of the earthquake” that he has been able to dig into the wounds of our country.
To consult the cinema film program CLICK HERE
