LECTURE: Women Trailblazers in Documentary Cinema

23 September 2026. A lecture by Festival dei Popoli Artistic Director Alessandro Stellino at the British Insitute of Florence

 Elaine May behind the camera

At 6pm on September 23, join us on site or on line, for a ‘Wednesday Lecture’ at the British Institute of Florence, with Alessandro Stellino, the artistic director of Florence’s Festival dei Popoli – the world’s oldest documentary film festival. The lecture will highlight some of the leading women filmmakers featured in this year’s edition (31 October–8 November). In an intent to explore their artistic vision, filmmaking techniques and cultural impact, he will discuss a trilogy of films by American director Barbara Kopple on workers’ rights, marking the fiftieth anniversary of her Oscar-winning documentary Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976).

Stellino will also spotlight studies of contemporary directors celebrated in previous editions of the festival, including the pioneering Pan-African filmmaker Sarah Maldoror and the acclaimed Hungarian director Judit Elek, as part of the project ‘Women Trailblazers in Documentary Cinema’ – a three-year initiative, in collaboration with the Calliope Arts Foundation, aimed at the rediscovery and promotion of cinema by women.

Please register here.

Alessandro Stellino is a film critic, film programmer and teacher. In 2020, he was appointed artistic director of Festival dei Popoli in Florence, now the world’s oldest documentary film festival, founded in 1959. He has been part of the selection committee of Filmmaker Festival in Milano and, since 2016, he has been the artistic director of IsReal - Festival di Cinema del Reale in Nuoro, a documentary festival devoted to ethnography cinema and visual anthropology. Alessandro is a film teacher in CISA Locarno and Civica Scuola di Cinema – Luchino Visconti in Milano.