Salerno International Film Festival

Eighty years of cinema in the heart of Campania

The Salerno International Film Festival was founded in 1946 by the Cine Club Salerno, a cultural association established the year prior, and is today the longest-running film festival in Italy after the Venice Film Festival. The inaugural edition, titled the "National Festival of Small-Gauge Cinema," brought figures like Vittorio De Sica and Rossano Brazzi to the city, with screenings held across Salerno, Cava de' Tirreni, Positano, and Amalfi.

The original vision was simple yet revolutionary: transferring films from 35mm to the more portable 16mm format to bring cinema out of grand theaters and into inland towns, and even aboard transatlantic liners carrying Italian emigrants. This spirit of democratizing cinema defines the festival's identity, which by the 1960s was already receiving hundreds of entries from over fifty countries. Over the years, the festival was among the first to open its competition to television fiction and has developed specialized sections, including those focused on medical and scientific themes.

Competition categories

The competition is divided into numerous sections covering the entire spectrum of contemporary audiovisual production:

• Feature films, with a minimum duration of 60 minutes
• Short films, up to 30 minutes
• Documentaries, up to 90 minutes
• Animated films and cartoons, with no duration limit
• School Videos, reserved for student-made works
• Discovery Campania, dedicated to promoting the region's culture and tourism
• A Look at the World, focusing on human rights, inclusion, and equality
• Eco-Film, featuring environmental works and documentaries
• Cinema of the Future, for shorts experimenting with artificial intelligence and new technologies

Works must be subtitled in Italian or English for jury evaluation; those selected for screening require Italian subtitles. Entries are processed via the international platforms FilmFreeway and FestHome.

Awards

The most prestigious honor is the "Golfo di Salerno - Ignazio Rossi" Grand Trophy, awarded by the festival committee to the best overall work. The technical jury presents category trophies for features, shorts, documentaries, and animation, alongside certificates of merit. These are joined by the Audience Prize, decided by spectators voting on a scale of 1 to 5, and the Press Prize, awarded by a jury of journalists. The festival also presents the Golden Apollo for lifetime achievement: in 2024, it was awarded to director Ricky Tognazzi.

The Cine-Teatro Augusteo, the festival's heart

The historic venue is the Cine-Teatro Augusteo, located on the ground floor of Salerno's City Hall, overlooking Piazza Giovanni Amendola: a space that has marked the city's cultural history through cinema, theater, and concerts. Some events take place at the Teatro Verdi, and in recent years, the festival has expanded beyond city limits with launch events and side evenings along the Amalfi Coast, from Atrani to Cetara.

A free and participatory festival

The organizing committee is a non-profit volunteer association based in Salerno, on Via Portacatena. Participation in all screenings and side events is free, with the exception of private screenings: a choice that makes the event accessible to students, cinephiles, and families. The festival is supported by the Campania Region and the Municipality of Salerno, as well as local entities and associations.

Salerno and its province around the festival

Salerno, the capital of the province of the same name in Campania, provides an ideal backdrop for the festival week: the Trieste seafront, the medieval historic center with its Cathedral dedicated to Saint Matthew, the Minerva Garden, and the Arechi Castle are all just a short walk from the theaters. The province, which includes the Amalfi Coast, the Sele Plain, and the Cilento, is a natural film set, and it is no coincidence that a competition section invites authors to capture its landscape and heritage. November is a quiet time to visit the city, when accommodation prices are more affordable and the city's cultural life is in full swing.