Premio Carpine Visciano Short Film Festival

Short films that tell the story of the present

The Premio Carpine Visciano Short Film Festival is the premier cultural event in Visciano, a small town of just over four thousand inhabitants located at the eastern edge of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in Campania, nestled in the hills bordering the Irpinia region. Every year, at the beginning of July, the village transforms—as the organizers love to say—into a true "open-air cinema": for three nights, directors, actors, students, industry professionals, and film enthusiasts gather under the stars to watch and discuss the short films in competition.

The roots: Father Arturo D'Onofrio and the Madonna del Carpinello

The festival was not born from a cultural marketing strategy, but from a deeply local history. The name recalls the devotion to Maria Santissima Consolatrice del Carpinello, linked to the discovery of a painting of the Virgin at the foot of a small hornbeam tree, and above all the figure of Father Arturo D'Onofrio, founder of the Piccola Opera della Redenzione, who is currently in the process of beatification. This legacy dictates the festival's editorial line: giving a voice to unresolved social issues, promoting inclusion and human dignity, and turning social denunciation into an opportunity for redemption.

A socially-themed competition

The competing short films tackle challenging subjects—violence, gender equality, youth hardship, human rights, immigration, poverty, and legality—with a perspective that the organization always asks to be authentic and engaging. There are five competition categories:

• Italian Short Film — the main section, reserved for Italian short film productions;
• Short Doc — short documentaries;
• International Short Film — the showcase that opened the festival to the world;
• School Short Film — works created by schools, academies, and educational workshops;
• Animation Short Movie — animated cinema.

Alongside the category awards, the organization assigns numerous individual honors—Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Actress in leading and supporting roles—as well as the Critics' Award. The selection is entrusted to a viewing committee and a technical jury chaired by critic and journalist Francesco Della Calce, while the artistic direction is led by Carmine Rufino.

How the evenings unfold

The well-established format features three consecutive evening events starting around 9:00 PM. The first night is dedicated to an opening show—theatrical or musical—featuring a high-profile guest; the second is Projection Day, where finalist short films are screened and discussed on stage with directors and guests, with the audience acting as a popular jury; the third night concludes with the Awards Gala. In recent years, the festival stage has been the Arena Parco Giovanni Paolo II, the open-air space of the Visciano municipal park.

From the village to the international circuit

Established in 2011 as a national short film festival on social issues, the Prize has progressively expanded its reach: today, entries come through major international festival platforms, and competing works arrive from dozens of countries. Over the years, the Visciano stage has hosted well-known faces of Italian cinema and television, from voice actor Luca Ward to David di Donatello winner Francesco Di Leva, with the festival hosted by its patroness, Adriana Volpe. Local and regional administrators also regularly attend the awards ceremony, a sign of the support that the Campania Region and the Municipality of Visciano guarantee to the event.

Visciano and the Nola area

Those who travel up to Visciano for the festival will find a village at an altitude of 340 meters, surrounded by hazelnut groves and famous for its ancient pyrotechnic art. The iconic monument is the Sanctuary of Maria Santissima Consolatrice del Carpinello, elevated to a minor basilica in 1986, the destination of a pilgrimage deeply felt throughout the Nola area. A few kilometers away are Nola, with its history linked to the UNESCO-recognized Festa dei Gigli, and the gateway to Irpinia: a location that makes it easy to combine the Premio Carpine evenings with a day trip into the Campanian hinterland.