Casilino Cinema Fest

A festival born in the suburbs

The Casilino Cinema Fest is the cinematic highlight of summer 2026 in Rome, within the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Lazio. Promoted by the Fusolab 2.0 association, the festival comes to life at Casilino Sky Park, a suspended terrace built on the roof of a multi-story parking garage on Viale della Bella Villa, in the capital's eastern quadrant between Alessandrino and Torre Maura. It is a bold statement: bringing auteur cinema and independent research away from the historic center and into a neighborhood rarely featured on Rome's cultural map.

Short films and independent works from around the world

The inaugural edition is a national and international competition open to all genres. Submissions are collected via the FilmFreeway platform from March to August 2026, and the selected short films are showcased to the public during the summer evenings, preceding the main features. The organizers' goal is to create a meeting point between creators, the audience, and the local community: not an exclusive industry showcase, but an open-air arena where filmmakers and viewers connect.

The "Visioni fuori dal centro" award

The festival's top honor is the Visioni fuori dal centro award, which recognizes works set outside urban centers and in peripheral areas. Additionally, the audience can vote for their favorite film via QR code to assign the Audience Award. Among the first jurors announced are Sara Pichelli, comic book artist and co-creator of Miles Morales, and Edoardo Stoppacciaro, actor, voice actor, and director.

The "Cinema on the Roof" evenings

The festival builds upon the Cinema sul tetto (Cinema on the Roof) series, the Tuesday appointment that has enlivened the Casilino Sky Park terrace since 2022. Every Tuesday, the space transforms into an open-air cinema with the Personal Trailer format, curated by Valerio Desirò: around 8:15 PM, an interview with guest actors and directors—produced in collaboration with the Fondazione Cinema per Roma—followed by the 9:00 PM screening on the big screen. Selected short films from the competition are shown before the feature film.

Beyond cinema

Casilino Sky Park is a comprehensive cultural hub: throughout the season, the terrace hosts live concerts, Wednesday stand-up comedy nights, children's play areas, sports facilities, and a lounge bar featuring cuisine from local restaurants. On the day of the final awards, September 12, 2026, the park will also host the Game Vintage Market, a national event dedicated to retrogaming, collectibles, comics, and pop culture.

Why it's worth the climb

• A screen positioned eighteen meters high with a view over the rooftops of Rome's eastern quadrant.
• Free admission to screenings, reserved for Fusolab members.
• Six hundred free parking spaces on the lower levels of the parking structure.
• An urban regeneration project that restored an abandoned structure to the neighborhood.

For those visiting Rome in the summer, the Casilino Cinema Fest is a concrete alternative to the city center arenas: more affordable, younger, and much closer to the city's real pulse.