"Concept". The Festival describes the complexity of our world through films and stories that talk about us and that are touching, deep and inspiring. Important and high-quality movies are selected from the most famous international festivals and are presented by their authors and protagonists. PerSo is a festival where the audience and the artists, well-known directors and young emerging ones, can meet and share experiences. It is a festival of dialogue about cinema, social issues, artistic research, divulgation and entertainment.
"The Festival at a glance". One city, four movie theatres, six competition categories, the PerSo Lab aimed to professionally develop young film-makers and support new productions, the PerSo Award (Italian premieres) and the Masterpieces (the best documentaries of the year), the movies shown at the Perugia-Capanne prison, the events dedicated to the world of psychiatry and sound documentaries, the PerSo Off, that refers to concerts, events and meetings.
Each edition offers more than 50 free entry events and welcomes 70 guests: directors, producers, judges, celebrities, staff members and volunteers.
PerSo FF is organised by RealMente Ngo, in collaboration with Foundation “La Città del Sole” – Onlus, in the fascinating medieval city of Perugia.

Awards & Prizes

- PerSo Award to the best feature film: € 2,500,00
- PerSo Award - Special Jury award
- PerSo Audience Award to the best feature film: : € 500
- PerSo Cinema Italiano: € 1.000
- PerSo Lab Awards to the best project: € 2.000,00
- PerSo Short Award to the best short film: € 500,00
- PerSo Short Jail to the best short film (awarded by the prisoners’ Jury): € 500
- PerSo “Umbria in celluloide” to the best movie related to the Umbria region: € 500

Rules & Terms

5. PERSO AWARD COMPETITION FOR BEST MEDIUM AND FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY FILM
Eligible for the selection process are documentaries of any nationality and language, with no less than 30 minutes running time, concluded after January 1st, 2021 or that had never been publicly screened before this date. Only in exceptional cases, the Festival Direction, at its own discretion, may decide to derogate from this deadline for those documentary films that have never been publicly screened out of their country of origin.
The status of Italian premiere will be considered a preferential, but not an exclusive requirement for the selection of films. By films in Italian premiere status, it means they must not have been publicly screened in Italy before the scheduled screening day at PerSo Film Festival 2023 (this pertains to any event and/or platform available: festivals, screenings, any kind of television program, movies streaming services, etc.).
Moreover, the selection will give priority to World, International and European Premiers.
AWARDS
a) PerSo Award
€ 2.500 to the best medium and feature length documentary film
b) PerSo Agorà – Audience Award
€ 500 to the best film awarded by the Festival audience

6. CINEMA ITALIANO COMPETITION FOR THE BEST ITALIAN DOCUMENTARY FILM
Eligible for the selection process are Italian Documentaries with no less than 30 minutes running time, concluded after January 1st, 2021 or that had never been publicly shown before this date. Only in exceptional cases the Festival Direction, at its own discretion, may decide to derogate from this deadline for those documentary films that have never been publicly shown. In order to be an “Italian Documentary”, it must have been produced by Italian directors or directors that have been residing in Italy during the documentary film making and/or produced or co-produced in Italy.
AWARDS
a) PerSo Cinema italiano
€ 1.000 to the best medium and feature length Italian documentary Film

7. PERSO SHORT AWARD COMPETITION FOR BEST SOCIAL DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
Eligible for the selection process are short documentaries of any nationality and language, with a less than 30 minutes running time, concluded after January 1st, 2021 or that had never been publicly shown before this date. Only in exceptional cases the Festival Direction, at its own discretion, may decide to derogate from this deadline for those documentary films that have never been publicly shown out of their country of origin.
The selection will give priority to World, International and European Premiers.
AWARDS
a) PerSo Short Award
€ 500 to the best short documentary film, awarded by the official jury
b) PerSo Short Jail
€ 500 to the best short documentary film, awarded by the Prisoners’ Jury

8. “UMBRIA IN CELLULOIDE” COMPETITION
Eligible for the selection process are any length movies concluded after January 1st, 2021, focused on social issues in a broader sense (as explained in the Introduction, point 1) and related to the Umbria Region: about Umbria itself and/or set in Umbria and/or from authors either born or resident in Umbria. It is eligible all kinds of movies: documentary, fiction, animation films, etc.

AWARDS
a) PerSo “Umbria in celluloide” – ANEC UMBRIA
€ 500 to the best film

6 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Christian Carmosino Mereu

    One of the best organized and thrilling festival in Italy. Gives great attention to meetings and film exchange and has a fantastic venue.

    October 2023
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  • Thibaut Bertrand

    A warm-welcoming festival in the beautiful city of Perugia. Thank you very much for the invite!

    October 2022
    Helpful
  • Eleonora Cecconi

    Festival ben organizzato e di spessore sociale. Il nostro corto "L'ennesimo compleanno" è stato selezionato per la VII edizione e ne siamo stati molto felici. Consigliatissimo!

    October 2021
    Helpful
  • stefano ceccarelli

    Bel Festival, ben organizzato e con proiezioni molto interessanti.
    Un festival a cui ho partecipato con piacere, consigliato!

    October 2020
    Helpful
  • Gian Luca Rossi

    A wonderful festival, with a great selection work.

    October 2020
    Helpful