The Cisterna Film Festival is an international short film festival held annually in July in Cisterna di Latina, Italy. Over the years, the festival has established itself as a vibrant meeting point for contemporary short cinema, showcasing outstanding works by emerging and established filmmakers from around the world. The festival is organized by the cultural association MOBilitazioni Artistiche, with artistic direction by Cristian Scardigno.
From 2015 to 2025, the Cisterna Film Festival presented a wide selection of national and international premieres, including films showcased at major festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, and Clermont-Ferrand, as well as award-winning works recognized by the most prestigious film honors, including the Academy Awards, David di Donatello Awards, César Awards, and Goya Awards.
Since 2017, the festival has featured a “Focus” section dedicated each year to a specific country, fostering cultural exchange and international dialogue through cinema. The section was inaugurated in 2017 with a focus on Poland, supported by the Polish Institute in Rome, followed in 2018 by Ireland, in collaboration with the Irish Film Festa and the Irish Embassy. In 2019, the festival turned its attention to Germany, with the support of German Films and the German Embassy in Rome, and in 2021 to Greece, in collaboration with the Drama International Short Film Festival, an Academy Award–qualifying festival.
In 2022, the Cisterna Film Festival presented a curated selection of short films from Croatia with the support of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre. In 2023, the festival hosted a focus on short films by Palestinian filmmakers, in collaboration with the Consulat Général de France à Jérusalem and the Palestinian Ministry of Culture. In 2025, the festival hosted a focus on Cuba, in collaboration with the Festival de Cine Ínsar in Havana.
Each year, the Cisterna Film Festival welcomes leading figures from the international film and entertainment industry and enriches its program with a variety of collateral events, including book presentations, workshops for teenagers, and photography exhibitions, confirming its role as a dynamic cultural hub for cinema and the arts.
www.cisternafilmfestival.com
