๐—ง๐—”๐—ž๐—˜ ๐—จ๐—ฆ ๐—ฆ๐—ข๐— ๐—˜๐—ช๐—›๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—˜ ๐—•๐—˜๐—”๐—จ๐—ง๐—œ๐—™๐—จ๐—Ÿ

Desenzano Film Festival is looking for films that are able to take us around the new world we're living in, through the eyes of independent authors of any gender, nationality, age and ethnicity.

Selected films will compete in our iMDB-Qualifying competition and showcased in a gala night and award ceremony in an 18th century theatre in the center of Desenzano on Lake Garda.

๐—˜๐—ซ๐—–๐—›๐—”๐—ก๐—š๐—˜, ๐——๐—œ๐—ฆ๐—–๐—จ๐—ฆ๐—ฆ, ๐——๐—˜๐—•๐—”๐—ง๐—˜, ๐—š๐—ฅ๐—ข๐—ช

We're committed to showcasing different genres and approach to filmmaking, from fiction films to documentary and animation. Experimental films will frame the event by being screened in a Gallery in the middle of Desenzano for 10 days!

Over the years we have hosted films by Charles Williams (Cannes Palme D'Or), Dekel Berenson (Palme D'Or nominee) Louise Courvoisier and Lucia Bulgheroni (Cannes Cinefondation), Antony Nti (Oscar Nominee), Simone Bozzelli (Venice Critics Week Winner) Tommaso Frangini (Venice Critics Week nominee) Prantik Basu (Rotterdam nominee) and many other authors which later got recognized by major awards, along with filmmakers with their first films, students and independent producers.

๐— ๐—˜๐—˜๐—ง ๐—ข๐—จ๐—ฅ ๐—๐—จ๐—ฅ๐—ข๐—ฅ๐—ฆ
During the years we host:

Franco Piavoli - Director
Born in 1933, he directed "Il Pianeta Azzurro" in competition at the 50th edition of Venice Film Festival and ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฏ๐˜† ๐—”๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ท ๐—ง๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐˜€๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ท "๐—ฎ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—น๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ฒ".

Stefano Cipani - Director
Born in 1986 in Salรฒ, he directed "Mio fratello rincorre i dinosauri" and ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐——๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฑ ๐—ฑ๐—ถ ๐——๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ผ ๐—”๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—™๐—ถ๐—น๐—บ ๐—”๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—”๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ.

Gianfilippo Pedote - Producer
Born in 1952, he's produced over 40 films like "Un'ora sola ti vorrei" by Alina Marazzi awarded at ๐—Ÿ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ง๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ผ ๐—™๐—ถ๐—น๐—บ ๐—™๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—น and "Selfie" by Agostino Ferrente awarded with ๐——๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฑ ๐—ฑ๐—ถ ๐——๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ผ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ.

Giancarlo Soldi - Director
Born in 1954, he's a film director ๐˜๐˜„๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ก๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ ๐——'๐—”๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ผ for his films "Nessuno siamo perfetti" and "Cercando Valentina".

Veronica Maffizzoli - Festival Director
She's Journalist and film critic. In 2005 she founded ๐—™๐—ถ๐—น๐—บ๐—™๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—น ๐—š๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ where she's the artistic director. Attends the main national and international film festivals and related markets. He collaborates with the organizational management of the Bfm and with various sector magazines

Ondina Quadri - Actress
Born in 1994, she ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—š๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—š๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฒ for the role played in the movie "Arianna" directed by Carlo Lavagna. She also works on "Capri-Revolution" by Carlo Martone and "Le notti magiche" by Paolo Virzรฌ.

Maura Morales Bergman - Cinematographer
Born in 1979, she is the director of photography of the ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜† "๐—ฆ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ผ, ๐—œ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฎ" ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฏ๐˜† ๐—ก๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ถ ๐— ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—ถ. She also directed her own documentary "Entierros" in 2017.

Stefano Cravero - Editor
Born in 1977, ๐——๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฑ ๐—ฑ๐—ถ ๐——๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ผ ๐—ก๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ for editing "Nico 1988" by Susanna Nicchiarelli in 2018. In the same year, he co-directed his own documentary "Country for old men" with Pietro Jona.

Piero Deggiovanni - Critics
Born in 1957. Professor of History of Contemporary Art and History and Theory of New Media at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna. He devoted himself exclusively to research, focusing on the relationships between art and new digital technologies dedicated to communication. He is particularly interested in video art and media hybridization.

All our trophies are custom-made by our partner ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ถ ๐—š๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐—ถ, a prestigious Italian stone contractor that will craft unique black marble pieces.

๐—•๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ง ๐—ฆ๐—›๐—ข๐—ฅ๐—ง ๐—™๐—œ๐—Ÿ๐— 
$ 300 in cash prize, Custom made marble trophy, free stay and accommodation.

๐—•๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ง ๐—ฆ๐—›๐—ข๐—ฅ๐—ง ๐——๐—ข๐—–
$ 200 in cash prize, Custom made marble trophy, free stay and accommodation.

๐—•๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ง ๐—Ÿ๐—ข๐— ๐—•๐—”๐—ฅ๐——๐—œ๐—” ๐—ฆ๐—›๐—ข๐—ฅ๐—ง ๐—™๐—œ๐—Ÿ๐— 
$ 100 in cash prize, Custom made marble trophy, free stay and accommodation.

๐—•๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ง ๐—˜๐—ซ๐—ฃ๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—œ๐— ๐—˜๐—ก๐—ง๐—”๐—Ÿ ๐—™๐—œ๐—Ÿ๐— 
$ 200 in cash prize, Custom made marble trophy, free stay and accommodation.

๐—•๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ง ๐—”๐—ก๐—œ๐— ๐—”๐—ง๐—œ๐—ข๐—ก ๐—™๐—œ๐—Ÿ๐— 
$ 200 in cash prize, Custom made marble trophy, free stay and accommodation.

๐—”๐—จ๐——๐—œ๐—˜๐—ก๐—–๐—˜ ๐—”๐—ช๐—”๐—ฅ๐——
$ 200 in cash prize, Custom-made marble trophy, free stay and accommodation.

___________________

๐—ง๐—˜๐—–๐—›๐—ก๐—œ๐—–๐—”๐—Ÿ ๐—”๐—ช๐—”๐—ฅ๐——๐—ฆ
we will give away these category awards:

๐—•๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ง ๐——๐—œ๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—–๐—ง๐—ข๐—ฅ
Custom-made marble trophy, free stay and accommodation.

๐—•๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ง ๐—–๐—œ๐—ก๐—˜๐— ๐—”๐—ง๐—ข๐—š๐—ฅ๐—”๐—ฃ๐—›๐—˜๐—ฅ
Custom-made marble trophy, free stay and accommodation.

๐—•๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ง ๐—˜๐——๐—œ๐—ง๐—œ๐—ก๐—š
Custom-made marble trophy, free stay and accommodation.

๐—•๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ง ๐—ฆ๐—–๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—˜๐—ก๐—ช๐—ฅ๐—œ๐—ง๐—˜๐—ฅ
Custom-made marble trophy, free stay and accommodation.

๐—•๐—˜๐—ฆ๐—ง ๐—ฃ๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—™๐—ข๐—ฅ๐— ๐—”๐—ก๐—–๐—˜
Custom-made marble trophy, free stay and accommodation.

We ask filmmakers and producers to accept simple regulations:

1 โ€ง Free theme or subject;
2 โ€ง Shorts must have a maximum running time of 40';
3 โ€ง Shorts must be either shot in italian or have english or italian subtitles;
4 โ€ง You can submit only one short per subscription fee: multiple shorts require multiple subscription fees;
5 โ€ง 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.
6 โ€ง The judgement of the jurors is unchallengeable

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Wonderful place, great festival. Program was rich and colorful. Perfect communication.

    October 2023
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thank you Rimantas. It was a pleasure screen your project. We hope to see you and your next project soon ;)

  • Antonio Morra

    Amazing people, great selection, beautiful location!
    This guys are the best.
    It was a honor being selected.
    For me was the first time but i will cooming back!

    October 2023
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thank you Antonio! It was a pleasure host you an your work at our Festival. We hope to see you and your next project soon ;)

  • Nate Dorr

    Desenzano's only been running for a few years, but one look at the program and it's clear that a lot of curatorial care goes into it. I wasn't able to attend, but even so I made some new contacts, and got to share in the excitement of the festival remotely. Really one of the best experiences I've had with participating in a festival from afar like this, and I'm excited to see the festival grow from here.

    October 2023
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thank you Nate for your kind words. We really belive in our Festival and we work hard trying to reduce the distance between Great Cinema and Audience.
    Hoping to see your next project soon!

  • Amina Maher

    A lovely festival with a wonderful team and programing. So proud to be part of Desenzano in 2021. Lots of love.

    October 2022
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Grazie Amina! And thanks for your energy that give to us with your short and your presence at our festival.

  • Giulia A. Romanelli

    A great experience! High quality of films selected, professional team (staff and volunteers), amazing accommodations provided for all guests.

    October 2022
    Logo
    Response from festival:

    Thank you Giulia, it was a pleasure for us hosting your project at our Festival. Congrats again