We live in a time that moves fast, where the visible is everything, simplicity prevails, and complexity disturbs. In this time, we choose short cinema. Not to simplify, but to condense. Not to explain, but to suggest.
Inferenze Short Film Festival is a space of passage, a crossing between the visible and the invisible, between memory and imagination. Here, each short film is a minimal gesture that digs deep. Each story is a layering: fragments of reality, visions, languages, sounds and silences. A thought settles into the image. An image awakens thought.
We chose an archaeological museum as our venue because the past, too, is an inference: we never see it completely, but we sense its form through ruins, through the traces that remain. Just like cinema, true meaning never reveals itself entirely, but emerges from nuances, unspoken moments, and the spaces between words.
The subtitle of this eighth edition, “Epiphanies of the Specter" points to a moment of revelation: when what is latent takes shape and becomes visible. The festival focuses on these apparitions, favoring works that question the image and challenge its boundaries, between presence and absence, reality and perception.
Inferenze is the festival that celebrates complexity, ambiguity, the question itself. We are not looking for easy answers, but new questions. We don’t offer pre-packaged visions, but invitations to think. This is our way of looking at the world. Beneath the surface, there is always something more.
1. Awards
• Beneath the Surface Award – Best International Short
(La Civetta" Prize – an exclusive handcrafted terracotta statuette created by Neapolitan artist Tiziana D’Auria, inspired by Athena’s owl, symbol of knowledge and vision beyond appearances. This award honors the courage of a personal cinematic language, the ability to evoke the invisible, and the power of imagery that leaves a lasting impression)
To the short film that best represents the festival’s poetics: an original gaze on reality, capable of questioning, diverting, opening.
• Visions from Campania Award
(Mounted plaque)
To the best short made by a Campanian author or set in Campania, for its powerful exploration of the territory in a contemporary key.
• Future Gazes Award
(Simple plaque)
To the best school short, for its originality and expressive sensitivity within an educational context.
• Interstitial Spaces Award: Epiphanies of the Specter
(Mounted plaque with unique design)
To the film that most embodies the liminal tension of the section: a short that becomes a moment of revelation.
Special Prizes
• Possible special mention by the Jury
(Simple plaque)
For works that stand out for a specific quality (screenwriting, editing, cinematography, sound, etc.).
• Audience Award
(Simple plaque)
Voted by viewers during the festival screenings, to promote active audience participation.
2. Juries
Art. 1 – Jury Composition
1.1 Technical Jury
Composed of 3 to 7 members, selected among filmmakers, film critics, curators, university lecturers, visual artists, and audiovisual professionals. Members are appointed by the festival’s artistic direction and remain confidential until the event begins.
Awards assigned:
• Best International Short – Beneath the Surface
• Best Short – Visions from Campania
• Interstitial Spaces Award
• Possible Jury Special Mentions
1.2 Youth Jury
Made up of high school and university students, selected through a public call or in collaboration with educational institutions.
Members range from 5 to 15.
Award assigned:
• Best Short – Future Gazes
1.3 Audience Jury
All audience members attending in-person screenings of competition films may vote for the Audience Award. Voting is done via paper ballot distributed before the screenings and collected afterward. The film with the most votes receives:
• Inferenze 2026 Audience Award
Art. 2 – Voting Procedures
2.1 Technical Jury
Each member votes numerically or with a written motivation (at the artistic direction’s discretion). The award is granted by simple majority. In case of a tie, the jury president’s vote prevails.
2.2 Youth Jury
Members gather after screenings to deliberate together. The award goes to a short deemed especially meaningful to the young audience.
2.3 Audience Jury
Each viewer may vote for their favorite short screened in the session. Votes are anonymous and counted by the organizational staff. The film with the most total preferences wins the Audience Award.
Art. 3 – Evaluation Criteria
All juries are encouraged to consider the following, with varying sensibilities:
• Originality of the idea
• Technical and stylistic quality
• Expressive power and evocative capacity
• Thematic relevance to the spirit of the festival
• Innovation in cinematic language
3.1 Evaluation – Interstitial Spaces Section
Assigned by the Technical Jury
The short films selected for the “Intercapedini” section will be evaluated according to a dedicated rubric that considers their hybrid, conceptual, and experimental nature.
Specific Criteria:
1. Conceptual Power
– The short film’s ability to articulate an abstract, philosophical, or enigmatic idea through audiovisual language.
2. Atmosphere and Poetic Tension
– How the work constructs a suspended, sensorial, emotional, or symbolic dimension.
3. Linguistic Transgression
– The originality and boldness in the use of form, structure, editing, voice, sound, and image.
4. Relevance to the Spirit of “Intercapedini”
– Coherence with the themes of the invisible, the liminal, and the unspoken.
5. Visual Impact and Memorability
– The lasting impression the work leaves on the viewer’s eye and mind.
-
November 2025
-
Marta Capossela
October 2025 -
November 2024
-
Antonio Malfitano
November 2024
