#๐™€๐™‰๐˜ฟ๐™Š๐™๐™๐™€๐˜ผ๐™‡๐™„๐™๐™”
๐—ข๐—จ๐—ฅ ๐—ฆ๐—˜๐—ฉ๐—˜๐—ก๐—ง๐—› ๐—–๐—”๐—Ÿ๐—Ÿ ๐—™๐—ข๐—ฅ ๐—˜๐—ก๐—ง๐—ฅ๐—œ๐—˜๐—ฆ ๐—œ๐—ฆ OPEN

Il Varco Film Festival, ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—™๐—ถ๐—น๐—บ๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜†'๐˜€ ๐—ง๐—ผ๐—ฝ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿต, ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ, ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฎ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฏ
is back for its 7th ๐—œ๐— ๐——๐—ฏ-๐—ค๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ณ๐˜†๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด edition with a film & script showcase that aims at discovering a generation of authors that can break through the surface of our times and generate a new wave.

Home to some of the most interesting young filmmakers of our time, our competition has hosted Palm D'Or Winners, Oscar Nominees, EFA winners and many great filmmakers who had their beginnings among the selected authors of our previous editions. Our italian competition has also been a reference point for the 90's generation of directors who are now paving their way with their feature films.

๐—ง๐—›๐—˜ ๐—›๐—ข๐—Ÿ๐—Ÿ๐—ข๐—ช ๐— ๐—”๐—ก ๐—”๐—ช๐—”๐—ฅ๐—— praises excellence in young filmmaking new tendency, with particular regards to originality, language innovation. aesthetics and artisanality of the image.

We accept submissions in the following categories:

๐Ÿ† International Short Films under 40 minutes of any genre and theme;
๐Ÿ† International Short Documentaries under 40 minutes;
๐Ÿ† Animation Films with every technique under 40 minutes;
๐Ÿ† Italian films under 40 minutes, both documentaries and fiction;

Selected filmmakers will be screened in October 2024 in Rome and invited to take part in our community.

All the selected films are paid a ๐—ฆ๐—–๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—˜๐—ก๐—œ๐—ก๐—š ๐—™๐—˜๐—˜ to be presented at our festival, which, since 2023, is non competitive for films but divides equally the prize pool among all the participants, for a fairer and more collaborative cinematic world.

The artistic director is ๐—”๐—ก๐——๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—” ๐—š๐—”๐—ง๐—ข๐—ฃ๐—ข๐—จ๐—Ÿ๐—ข๐—ฆ, avant-garde italian/greek filmmaker, whose film productions have been presented all over the world, from Cannes Quinzaine to Venice Film Critics' Week, to Locarno, Rotterdam and hundreds of other festivals.

๐—ข๐—จ๐—ฅ ๐—ฆ๐—–๐—ฅ๐—œ๐—ฃ๐—ง ๐—–๐—ข๐— ๐—ฃ๐—˜๐—ง๐—œ๐—ง๐—œ๐—ข๐—ก

We are also hosting a script competition for both Short Screenplay and Feature Screenplay, with $๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ต ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ $๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€, for both international and italian projects. Screenwriters are judged directly by a jury of producers that can kickstart their projects.
We will accept submissions in the following categories:

๐Ÿ“„ International Feature Screenplays, any genre and theme, more than 30 pages long, written in English;
๐Ÿ“„ International Short Screenplays, any genre and theme, less than 30 pages long, written in English;
๐Ÿ“„ Italian Feature Screenplays, any genre and theme, more than 30 pages long, written in Italian;
๐Ÿ“„ Italian Short Screenplays, any genre and theme, less than 30 pages long, written in Italian;

We will select 4 finalists for each category.

The 16 finalists will be able to participate to two free workshops:
- A pitching workshop with 1 to 1 tutors offered by Readmyscript;
- A press kit design workshop offered by FEDRAHub;

Then finalists will be required to send us a 5-minute pitch of their stories and will be invited in Rome for the award ceremony. Their screenplays and their pitching will be sent to the jury for the evaluation and we will select one winner for each category.

๐—ฃ๐—ฅ๐—ข๐—จ๐——๐—Ÿ๐—ฌ ๐—ฆ๐—ฃ๐—ข๐—ก๐—ฆ๐—ข๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—— ๐—•๐—ฌ ๐—™๐—œ๐—ก๐—”๐—Ÿ ๐——๐—ฅ๐—”๐—™๐—ง ยฎ ๐—ง๐—›๐—˜ ๐—œ๐—ก๐——๐—จ๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—ฅ๐—ฌ ๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—”๐—ก๐——๐—”๐—ฅ๐—— ๐—”๐—ก๐—— ๐— ๐—”๐—ฅ๐—ž๐—˜๐—ง ๐—Ÿ๐—˜๐—”๐——๐—˜๐—ฅ ๐—œ๐—ก ๐—ฆ๐—–๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—˜๐—ก๐—ช๐—ฅ๐—œ๐—ง๐—œ๐—ก๐—š ๐—ฆ๐—ข๐—™๐—ง๐—ช๐—”๐—ฅ๐—˜ ๐—™๐—ข๐—ฅ ๐—ข๐—ฉ๐—˜๐—ฅ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฑ ๐—ฌ๐—˜๐—”๐—ฅ๐—ฆ

Jury panel consists of Italian producers:

Luigi Mascolo, Eliofilm
Giorgio Gucci, Alcor
Simone Bracci, Mad Rocket Entertainment
Andrette Lo Conte, Freak Factory
Gloria Puppi, ReadMyScript
Andrea Italia, Nieminem Film
Orazio Guarino, Naffintusi
Marco Caberlotto, Kublai Film

We're looking forward to see your new works.

#๐—˜๐—ก๐——๐—ข๐—™๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—”๐—Ÿ๐—œ๐—ง๐—ฌ

๐—”๐—ช๐—”๐—ฅ๐——๐—ฆ ๐—”๐—ก๐—— ๐—ฃ๐—ฅ๐—œ๐—ญ๐—˜๐—ฆ

FILM SCREENINGS
We will select 12 to 20 films. The selections are eligible for IMDb Listing. All the selected films are paid a ๐—ฆ๐—–๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—˜๐—ก๐—œ๐—ก๐—š ๐—™๐—˜๐—˜ to be presented at our festival, which, since 2023, is non competitive for films but divides equally the prize pool among all the participants, for a fairer and more collaborative cinematic world.

YOUNG JURY AWARD
Our jury made of young film critics and cinephiles will assign a Young Jury Award to one of the screened films.

SCRIPT COMPETITION
All the 20 finalists will receive a license of Final Draft, the industry standard and market leader in screenwriting software for 25 years.

๐Ÿ† Hollow Man Award to the Best Feature Screenplay: $500 cash prize + post production package consisting of eng .srt subtitle service, DCP Link, film poster worth $2000.
๐Ÿ† Hollow Man Award to the Best Short Screenplay: $500 cash prize + post production package consisting of eng .srt subtitle service, DCP Link, film poster worth $1000.
๐Ÿ† Hollow Man Award to the Best Italian Short Screenplay: post production package consisting of eng .srt subtitle service, DCP Link, film poster worth $1000.
๐Ÿ† Hollow Man Award to the Best Italian Feature Screenplay: post production package consisting of eng .srt subtitle service, DCP Link, film poster worth $2000.
๐Ÿ† Finalist Screenplays: post production package consisting of eng .srt subtitle service, DCP Link, film poster worth $1000.

โ–ช Scripts with all themes and film genres are admitted.
โ–ช Short screenplays must have a 30 page limit and feature screenplays must be at least 30 pages;
โ–ช Scripts can be either in English or Italian;
โ–ช We accept short films of all genre and duration, shot from 2020 onwards;
โ–ช Submitters are required, in case of selection, to provide a subtitle file in english;
โ–ช Producers and/or author, if the short is selected for the final stage of the festival, must declare to be solely responsible for all rights regarding his work and must declare that the movie does not contain any third-party rights.
โ–ช The judgement of the jurors is unchallengeable;

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • ilaria pascazio

    Bellissimo Festival โœจ
    Ottima selezione di cortometraggi e bella atmosfera.

    May 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Grazie Ilaria per le tue parole! Siamo felici tu abbia partecipato e speriamo di rivederti presto con altri tuoi lavori!

  • Danilo Cuk

    a jury composed of true connoisseurs for having selected my script!

    May 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you Danilo! We are happy to have selected your work!

  • Great Festival and great team

    May 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you Brunella for participating! Hope to have you back again!

  • Raffaele Salvaggiola

    Excellent festival, for communication, organization, selection and audience participation

    May 2023
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you Raffaele for your great review! Glad you are happy with the whole experience!

  • giada bossi

    Very well curated selection and interesting appointments for finalists on pitching and designing projects! I loved to be part of it!! Great environment and network, even if I didn't win, It got me good contacts with producers! I would recommend it!!

    May 2023
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    Response from festival:

    You are very kind Giada, thank you for recognizing our efforts! Don't give up, hope to see more of your works soon!