Caselle Film Festival (CFF) - International Environmental Short Film Festival
Three nights of cinema under the stars in the heart of Cilento, where short films tell stories of the environment
About Caselle Film Festival
An environmental film festival in the Cilento National Park
The Caselle Film Festival, also known as CFF, is the International Environmental Short Film Festival held every summer in Caselle in Pittari, a small town of just under two thousand inhabitants in the province of Salerno, in Campania. The town sits at an altitude of 444 meters in the heart of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site: a setting that is not just a backdrop, but the very reason the festival exists.
Founded in 2016 by the Caselle Film Festival Association together with the Municipality of Caselle in Pittari, the CFF has built a precise identity over the years: collecting and awarding short films that tell stories about the environment, nature, and the landscape, giving space especially to young authors who choose to put their cameras at the service of the greenery that still surrounds us.
Piazza Olmo, the open-air cinema arena
The heart of the event is Piazza Olmo, which is set up as an open-air cinema for three consecutive nights. Screenings begin in the evening, when the temperature becomes more pleasant, and alternate with meetings with the authors, moments of reflection, and conversations with invited guests. Admission is free: this is a core identity of the festival, which aims to bring the local public, park visitors, and audiovisual professionals together in the same space.
Sections and awards
The competition is open to adult professionals and non-professionals, with short films up to 30 minutes long - fiction, animation, and documentary - dedicated to environmental, nature, and landscape themes. Foreign language works must be subtitled in English. Over the years, the structure has been divided into several selections:
- Environment Selection: the main section of the international competition;
- Animation Selection: dedicated to environmental-themed animated shorts;
- Youth Selection and Schools section: designed for young authors and the involvement of local schools.
The festival's historic awards are the Caselle Art Award, given to the best short film overall, the Caselle Award for Animation, and the Caselle Young Award, the latter awarded by a youth jury composed of dozens of local under-30s. In addition, there are special mentions for direction and screenplay. Alongside the youth jury, a professional jury composed of directors, authors, and audiovisual professionals operates.
Guests and institutional recognition
Over the years, the CFF has brought well-known names of Italian cinema to Caselle in Pittari: the 2025 tenth-anniversary edition saw the participation of Marco Bocci, Gianmarco Tognazzi, Violante Placido, and Gabriel Garko. The festival takes place with the support of the European Union and the Ministry of Culture and under the patronage of the Ministry of the Environment, and has seen the collaboration of industrial entities attentive to sustainability, which have established awards dedicated to environmental documentaries.
Why it's worth the trip
The Caselle Film Festival is one of those events where the location matters as much as the program. Watching a short film shot in the Amazon or Pakistan while sitting in a Cilento square, a few kilometers from the Caves of Caselle and the Bussento River, captures exactly the meaning the organizers seek: the environment as a universal value, told through different languages. For those visiting Cilento in August, the three nights of the CFF fit well with the rest of the town's summer calendar, which also includes the historic mid-month Salami Festival.
Caselle Film Festival — edition 2026
Caselle Film Festival 2026: the eleventh edition
The Caselle Film Festival returns to Caselle in Pittari, in the province of Salerno, for its eleventh edition, announced from August 7 to 9, 2026 in the open-air cinema arena of Piazza Olmo. The International Environmental Short Film Festival confirms the formula that has made it one of the most anticipated events of the Cilento summer: three nights of free-entry screenings, meetings with authors, and a final awards ceremony, in the heart of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park.
After the tenth-anniversary edition, the organizers have announced new stories, new emotions, and the same environmental commitment for 2026, with a stronger presence of local schools within the festival's journey. The competition remains open to short films of up to 30 minutes - fiction, animation, and documentary - dedicated to environmental, nature, and landscape themes, with works arriving every year from dozens of countries.
Sections and awards
The structure of the competition follows that established in previous editions, divided between the selection dedicated to the environment, the one reserved for animation, and the space for young authors and schools. The historic CFF awards are the Caselle Art Award for the best short film, the Caselle Award for Animation, and the Caselle Young Award, assigned by the youth jury composed of local under-30s, in addition to special mentions for direction and screenplay.
Useful information
Screenings are held in the evening in Piazza Olmo, with free admission. The detailed program for the 2026 edition, with evening-by-evening schedules, the list of finalist short films, and the names of the guests, has not yet been released at the time of publication of this sheet: it will be announced by the organization on the festival's official channels in the days preceding the event. It is advisable to check dates and the program on the social pages of the Caselle Film Festival and the Municipality of Caselle in Pittari before traveling.
Programme Caselle Film Festival 2026
Highlights Caselle Film Festival 2026
- Eleventh edition of the International Environmental Short Film Festival
- Three nights of screenings in the open-air cinema arena of Piazza Olmo
- International competition open to fiction, animation, and documentaries up to 30 minutes
- Caselle Art Award, Caselle Award for Animation, and Caselle Young Award
- Professional jury joined by a youth jury composed of local under-30s
- Greater involvement of schools announced for this edition
- Free admission to all evenings
Prices Caselle Film Festival 2026
Practical information — Caselle Film Festival
Where it takes place
Screenings are held in the open-air cinema arena set up in Piazza Olmo, in the center of Caselle in Pittari (84030), province of Salerno. The municipal offices, the organizational reference point, are located at Viale Roma 1.
How to get there
By car: take the Padula-Buonabitacolo exit on the A2 del Mediterraneo motorway, then follow provincial roads towards the Bussento and Caselle in Pittari (about 25 km). From Salerno, take the A2 south for about an hour and a half.
By train: Sapri station on the Tyrrhenian line (about 30 km), then take buses or taxis towards the Bussento hinterland.
By plane: Salerno-Costa d'Amalfi Airport or Naples-Capodichino Airport.
Admission and hours
Admission to the evenings is free. Screenings begin in the evening: it is advisable to arrive a little early to find a seat, especially on the final night with the awards ceremony.
Tips
Caselle in Pittari is located at an altitude of 444 meters: even in August, the evenings can be cool, so it is better to bring a light sweatshirt. Accommodation in the town is limited, so it is useful to book farmhouses and B&Bs in the area in advance or stay on the coast between Sapri and Policastro Bussentino. Nearby, the Caves of Caselle in Pittari and the Bussento River gorges are worth a visit.
Contacts and competition registration
Information and competition rules are on the official festival website; works can also be registered through international film festival platforms. Email: [email protected].
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Where does it take place — Caselle Film Festival
Piazza Olmo - Arena cinematografica all'aperto
Piazza Olmo, 84030 Caselle in Pittari