Ravenna Nightmare Film Fest

The festival of the dark side of cinema

Ravenna Nightmare Film Fest is one of the longest-running and most recognizable genre film festivals in Italy. Founded in 2003 in Ravenna, in the heart of Emilia-Romagna, the festival is dedicated to horror, fantasy, noir, thriller, and mystery cinema: a "dark map" of the big screen that annually showcases the best of international and Italian genre productions.

Conceived and directed by Franco Calandrini and produced by the Ravenna-based company Start Cinema, the festival began as an entirely horror-focused event before progressively broadening its horizons: noir, crime, psychological thriller, ghost stories, fantasy, and mystery have become part of a program that refuses to be confined within the boundaries of a single genre.

Sections and Competitions

The heart of the event lies in its competitions, which attract directors, actors, and films from all over the world to Ravenna. Among the sections that animate each edition:

• International Feature Film Competition, a showcase for the year's most original genre works;
• International Short Film Competition, participating in the Méliès d'argent European award;
• National Competition dedicated to Italian genre cinema;
• Emilia-Romagna Showcase, a window into productions supported by the Region;
• Japanese October, a tribute to the cinema of the Land of the Rising Sun;
• Contemporanea and Nightmare Classic, featuring both new releases and great rediscoveries from the past.

Guests, Awards, and Encounters

Over the years, the festival has hosted notable directors, actors, and authors, presenting awards such as the Medaglia al Valore (Medal of Valor) and accompanying screenings with masterclasses, literary encounters, and the educational section Visioni Fantastiche (Fantastic Visions), aimed at schools. The opening, hosted at the Teatro Alighieri, is traditionally reserved for special events, such as silent film screenings accompanied live by the orchestra of the "Giuseppe Verdi" Conservatory of Ravenna.

An Event for the City

For six days, Ravenna's Teatro Rasi transforms into the headquarters for lovers of genre cinema, in an event that intertwines cinephilia, popular culture, and local identity. The Municipality of Ravenna, in the province of Ravenna, thus welcomes a loyal and passionate audience that returns each autumn to immerse themselves in the dark side of the seventh art.