Laughter is serious business, but from 11th to 14th November the Grimaldi Forum turns it into pure art. Celebrating its 23rd edition under the High Patronage of Prince Albert II and the Italian Embassy, the Monte-Carlo Film Festival de la Comédie returns to the Principality.
Founded and chaired by Italian screen icon Ezio Greggio, this remains the only international film festival exclusively dedicated to comedy. This year’s lineup dives beyond simple punchlines, using humour to dissect social climbing, high-tech absurdities, fragile romances, and the chaotic beauty of human nature.
AI and social climbers open the line-up
The festival opens out-of-competition on Wednesday 11th November at 3pm with the world premiere of Un Weekend Artificiale, directed by and starring Tuscan comedian Leonardo Pieraccioni. The story follows a hairdresser trapped in a luxury villa with six strangers, tasked with uncovering which guest is secretly an AI humanoid.
The official competition kicks off later that evening at 8pm with Spanish director Víctor García León’s Altas Capacidades, a biting comedy tracking a middle-class couple whose desperate quest to get their son into an elite school tests their moral limits.
From pizza satire to Olivia Wilde’s ‘The Invite’
Thursday 12th November delivers a packed schedule of international premieres. Morning audiences (10:45am) get Carlo Padial’s Pizza Movies, which parodies dream startups through a struggling critic who opens a cinema-themed pizzeria with broke movie buffs. In the afternoon at 2:45pm, Niccolò Gentili’s Italian comedy Dov’è la Fiesta? follows a new couple whose critical ‘where are we heading?’ talk devolves into a wild week of chasing a stolen car through police stations and convents.
The star-studded highlight arrives at 7:45pm with the Monte-Carlo premiere of Olivia Wilde’s The Invite. Starring Wilde alongside Penelope Cruz, Edward Norton, and Seth Rogen, the film explores what happens when a couple going through a rough patch invites their mysterious upstairs neighbours over for dinner.
Biting class wars and unlikely friendships
Friday 13th November brings three final feature premieres. At 10:45am, the French world premiere Camembert, starring Kristin Scott Thomas, turns an innocent family board game into an all-out class war.
At 2:45pm, German director Helena Hufnagel presents Agnes & Amir, a tender exploration of an isolated elderly woman and a young Iranian refugee. The feature competition wraps up at 7:45pm with Gianni Zanasi’s È Andata Così, where a woman stuck in the countryside with the three key men in her life finds quiet peace in total acceptance.
Bite-sized comedy and the grand finale
Short film fans can catch the four ‘Short Comedy Award 2026’ contenders back-to-back on Wednesday evening from 7pm. Highlights include Pierre-Loup Docteur’s Zohra sans permis, about a 70-year-old taking driving lessons to pilot a vintage Alfa Romeo, and Donald McQuade’s Please Hold, depicting a man whose defective toaster and automated customer support destroy his morning. Rounding out the night are India Santella’s tense Christmas dinner story Olive and Eulalie Elsker’s Marseille-set romance Serenade.
The festival concludes on Saturday 14th November with the glamorous ‘Gala des Awards’ at the Grimaldi Forum, featuring prominent guests from international cinema. Tickets for the awards night are available for €50 on montecarlofilmfestival.com.
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Ezio Greggio, founder of the Monte-Carlo Film Festival de la Comédie. Photo credit: Mediaset Infinity