Messina Opera Film Festival (8)

Festival start: 29 November 2025      Festival end: 06 December 2025

The Messina Film Festival – Cinema&Opera is a meeting and discussion place for delving into the relationship between cinema and opera through various artistic perspectives and trends. The Messina Film Festival is the only event in the Italian cinematic landscape that addresses this interaction and offers the public a diverse cultural program consisting of screenings, concerts, presentations, and exhibitions. The entire program is exclusively dedicated to the relationship between the Seventh Art and one of the greatest Italian cultural traditions, Melodrama. There are non-competitive sections and a section dedicated to short films, which is competitive in nature. The competition is thematic, and only works with a maximum duration of 15 minutes (including titles) are admitted, which must feature stories inspired by operatic works or their characters, or that include music or arias from operas, or a setting in an opera theater.

Cash Prizes: 2,000€

For the short film competition, the following Awards are planned:

Award for the best short film (prize money of €1,200.00)

Special Jury Prize (prize money of €500.00)

Award for the best performance (prize money €300.00)

The selection of films is carried out at the sole and unquestionable discretion of the Festival's Direction. Both Italian and international films can participate in this section, with a maximum duration of 15 minutes (including titles), featuring stories inspired by operatic works, their characters or composers, or using music, choruses, or arias from operas, or a setting in an opera theater. Given the extreme uniqueness of the theme of the competition, films that are not new and thus have been presented in other events are also admitted.

Films in languages other than Italian must have Italian subtitles.