Vision Film Festival

1. Submissions for the 14th Edition of the Vision Film Festival is open from April 10, 2026 to December 31, 2026;
2. Short Films with a duration of no more than 30 minutes including titles are eligible for submission;
3. Short Films of any genre are eligible for submission, except pornographic;
4. There are 6 Categories in which to submit Short Films:
Comedy (narrative short films on light and ironic themes including the sentimental genre);
Drama (narrative short films of the dramatic genre);
Suspense (narrative short films in the thriller, sci-fi, action, mystery, and horror genres);
Social (narrative short films on social issues of any kind);
Documentary (documentaries and docufiction of any genre and theme);
Animation (animations of any type, genre and theme);
5. The Director can be of any age, Gender and Nationality;
6. Short Films produced anywhere in the World are eligible for submission;
7. Short Films in Italian must have English subtitles;
8. Short Films in English must have Italian subtitles;
9. Short Films in languages other than Italian and English must have subtitles in both Italian and English;
10. Short Films with burn-in subtitles, or clean Short Films with additional SRT files, are allowed;
11. For Submitters who don't have Subtitles ready but would like to submit a Short Film, the Festival's Technical Department offers a Professional Translation and Subtitling Service for a fee. The service is offered even if the short film is not selected, within 15 working days of submission, and the subtitles will remain the property of the applicant, who can therefore use them for sending to other Festivals and for any other use.
12. Short Films completed before January 1, 2025 will not be eligible;
13. Premiere status is not required, therefore Short Films can also participate in other competitions, but cannot be published on online platforms at the time of submission and until the end of the Event;
14. “Work in progress” is not allowed, therefore only final Short Films can be submitted;
15. The Author of the Short Film guarantees the legality of the Work and declares that all contents, including the soundtrack, are free from copyright, releasing the “Vision Film Festival” and its partners from any claim of any kind connected to intellectual property;
16. All the Short Films submitted will be viewed by the Jury, which will make an Official Selection. For each Category, the Short Film with the highest score will be the Category Winner. The jury's decisions on the selected Short Films are final and the Festival cannot provide feedback and reasons for the jury's decisions;
17. Submissions to the Vision Film Festival will close on December 31, 2026 and after this date, it will not be possible to submit further Works to this Edition;
18. By January 15, 2027, the Festival will send a notification email to submitter that the Jury intends to include in the Official Selection. The email will include a form to be signed and returned as an email attachment. With that signed form, the submitter waives the right to withdraw the Short Film from the Festival and authorizes its screening at the Event. If the Festival does not receive the signed form within 7 calendar days, the Short Film will be withdrawn. Once the Festival receives the signed form, it will no longer be possible to withdraw the Short Film from the Festival.
IMPORTANT: There is no exception to the above and email is the only official means of communication, so the submitter must take care to ensure that the email address provided is correct, working and up to date, especially close to January 15th;
19. By January 31, 2026, the Short Films included in the Official Selection will be announced through a communication on the Festival's Official Website;
20. The selected Short Films will be screened during the annual Event, where the Award Plaques will be given to the Winning Directors, in addition to the Prizes in products or services provided by Festival Sponsors for a total value of over $2,000;
21. The Official Submission Fee for a Short Film is $12.00;
22. The Festival cannot pay any fee for the screening of the selected Short Films;
23. The Festival cannot offer refunds for Travel, Food, Accommodation and any other related expenses to anyone attending the Event;
24. Submissions Fees are non-refundable, so it is important to read these Rules carefully, to ensure that the indicated requirements are met;
25. Submission to the Festival implies complete and unconditional acceptance of this regulation and authorization for the public screening of the selected works, as well as the dissemination for promotional purposes of posters, trailers and extracts of a length not exceeding 30 seconds for each work;
26. Any points not covered by this regulation are the responsibility of the organizer, while for any disputes the Court of Rome is competent.