Calascio Film Fest – Cine Regeneration

Cinema that regenerates a high-altitude village

The Calascio Film Fest – Cine Regeneration takes place in Calascio, a tiny municipality in the Province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, nestled at an altitude of over 1,200 metres at the foot of the famous Rocca Calascio. It is not just a simple film festival: it is a cultural project that aims to transform the village into a centre for cinematic training and production, bringing cinema, writing, and meetings to a place where depopulation threatens the life of Apennine communities.

A festival born from a rebirth project

The event is part of the pilot project "Rocca Calascio – Luce d'Abruzzo", selected by the Abruzzo Region and funded under the PNRR – Attractiveness of Villages with European Union funds – NextGenerationEU. The lead partner is Sulmonacinema Aps, supported by partners such as Il Bosso, Meta Aps, Fantasmagorie Studio, the IFA film school of Pescara, and UNIMED, with the promotion of the Municipality of Calascio. The underlying idea is clear: cinema as a tool for the cultural, social, and economic regeneration of small towns.

What to experience in Calascio

The heart of the festival is the residential screenwriting course, which every morning brings together young screenwriters under 35 in theoretical and practical workshops led by established directors and teachers, culminating in a public pitch of their stories. The evenings come alive with open-air screenings in the Cloister of Santa Maria delle Grazie, accompanied by debates and masterclasses. The programme also includes:

• Feature films and documentaries on environmental, social, and cultural themes;
• The short film section, curated in collaboration with the Sulmona International Film Festival;
• Animated short films designed for children;
• Masterclasses, workshops, and meetings with industry professionals;
• Convivial moments scattered throughout the village streets.

A unique setting

Few settings are as evocative: the screenings are held just a stone's throw from one of the most photographed castles in Italy, with views stretching across the Campo Imperatore plateau and the Gran Sasso. In Calascio, cinema steps out of the theatres and reclaims public space, combining the magic of the screen with the severe beauty of the Abruzzo mountains and transforming every screening into a collective experience.