SICILIA QUEER FILMFEST 2026 PALERMO MAY 25th-31st, 2026
PARTICIPATION RULES
PREMISE
1. ORGANIZERS
The cultural association Sicilia Queer organises the Sicilia Queer filmfest. Independent festival, it has been supported for some years by the MIC - Directorate General for Cinema; by the Regione Siciliana, Assessorato al Turismo Sport e Spettacolo – Sicilia Film Commission; by the City of Palermo, Department of Culture. The festival also benefits from the support of various associations and private sponsors.
2. AIMS
The Sicilia Queer filmfest – International New Visions festival aims to promote the film culture and to combat social discrimination, supporting the diversity culture through the promotion of unconventional works that explore new horizons, new perspectives, towards the cinema of the future. The festival intends to promote young filmmakers, emerging and independent cinematographies, new forms of expression connected to the experimentation and innovation of traditional and non-traditional languages.
3. DATE AND DURATION
The sixteenth edition of the Sicilia Queer filmfest will be held from 25th to 31st May, 2026, for a total duration of seven days.
4. PROGRAM
In addition to various non-competitive sections, the festival presents one competitive section:
New Vision International Award: An international competition open to short, medium-length and feature-length movies. This competitive section is dedicated to first and second works, new directors but also films that generally stand out for their innovative language and original perspective, addressing queer and queerness in a broad sense or not necessarily related to LGBT themes. All genres are eligible (fiction, documentary, animation, music videos, experimental films), with the exception of commercials and television theme songs.
5. NEW VISIONS INTERNATIONAL AWARD COMPETITION SUBSCRIPTION AND GUIDELINES
a) A 25€ (twenty five euros/00) entry fee is applicable to submitted films by the 20th December, 2025; 30€ (thirty euros/00) from 21st of December to 5th of February, 2026; 35€ (thirty five euros/00) from 6th of February to 28th of February 2026.
b) The selection will be the sole decision of the festival Direction.
c) Only fiction feature films and documentaries completed after January 1st, 2024 are eligible.
d) All submissions must be made online through the official entry form available on FilmFreeway.
e) Filmmakers willing to enter the competition must send a streaming link or upload a file following the directions in the entry form on FilmFreeway not later than March 30th 2026.
f) If not with Italian dialogues, all preview copies should be subtitled in Italian, English or French. An Italian, English or French dialogue list should be sent along with the DVD/link. All selected Italian films must include English subtitles.
g) The festival Direction will elect the international juries, each of them made up of at least three members, designated to award the prizes.
h) During the festival, an Audience award supported by one of the festival’s sponsor may be established.
6. SELECTED FILMS AND SHIPPING OF PRINTS
a) The Scheduling Office will request all the necessary documentation and materials of the selected filmmakers. All selected filmmakers will receive a list of the required materials only. These materials will be used for festival publications and for the distribution to the press and festival guests.
b) The requested materials should be sent/submitted as soon as possible upon acceptance of the invitation, but no later than one week after the selection communication.
c) The shipping costs of all the materials for the selection are at applicant’s expense. Materials of non-selected films will not be returned, and the copyright owners commit to authorize the festival offices to store them in the archive of the Sicilia Queer filmfest for the exclusive use of study, cataloguing and recommendation to other festivals. The archive will be available for free consultation.
7. FILM SCREENING
a) The screening schedule will be entirely under the responsibility of the festival Direction.
b) The screening format must necessarily be sent in PAL version (DCP, BluRay or HD video files).
c) All films in foreign language, if not provided with Italian subtitles, will be screened in their original version with Italian electronic subtitles provided by the festival. Non-English spoken films must have English subtitles either impressed or provided in a separate file.
d) The Festival Direction will publish a general catalogue of the selected movies.
8. AWARDS
The competition is awarded by two Juries of international film experts: the International Jury and the Circuito Festival Jury.
The International Jury assigns the International New Vision Award of €2.500,00 (two thousand five hundred euros/00) to the Best Film. The Jury may also award special mentions, which do not carry a cash prize.
The Circuito Festival Jury, composed of national and international festival representatives, assigns the Circuito Festival Award of €500,00 (five hundred euros/00). The prize aims to promote the circulation of rarely seen films: with this recognition the Jury encourages the organizers to to present the winning title in further screenings.
The two prizes, accompanied by the respective statements, will be awarded by the final decision of the two juries.
b) The producers and distributors, as well as the purchase and sales personnel commit to show the logo of the award received by the festival on the film promotional material (poster, trailer, website…). The official logo of the awards will be provided by the festival and must not be altered in any way without authorization.
c) The winners will be invited to release a copy of the awarded film (free of charge) for further screenings aimed to the diffusion of the awarded works in the weeks following the festival.
9. GENERAL RULES
a) Screening copies of the selected works must be sent before April 30th, 2026 in case of international shipping, and before May 5th, 2026 in case of domestic shipping.
b) Unless differently agreed, screening copies of selected films coming from non-EU countries must be sent via express courier. Please write on the outside of the package: “No commercial value. For cultural purposes only”. The festival will not accept shipments of films requiring the payment of customs fees at its expense.
c) Filmmakers and/or producers are responsible for the content of their works and, by entering the competition, acknowledge the fulfillement of any obligations towards third parties, including royalties and copyright.
d) The selected films, whose availability has already been confirmed by the right holders, cannot be later withdrawn from the festival for any reason. Should the filmmaker or the producers decide to withdraw a selected film already included in the festival schedule, they will be required to pay the sum of 2,000.00€ (two thousand euros/00) as a compensation for the damages.
e) The submissions to the SICILIA QUEER filmfest imply the unconditional acceptance of every part of the present regulations.
f) The festival Direction reserves the right to make decisions on matters not mentioned. In case of any controversy, the place of jurisdiction is the Court of Palermo. Please note that, in any case of dispute, only the Italian version of these regulations is legally valid.
The Sicilia Queer filmfest Direction
