Santa Marinella Short Film Festival - Apollo d'Oro

The short film festival in the city of cinema

The Santa Marinella Short Film Festival - Apollo d'Oro is a short film competition that lights up the evenings of Santa Marinella, an elegant seaside town in the province of Rome, Lazio, every summer. It is no coincidence that the festival was born here: during the Dolce Vita years, Santa Marinella was the refuge of Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman and a destination for stars like Gregory Peck, earning it the reputation of the 'city of cinema'. The festival, organized by the cultural association Santa Marinella Viva under the artistic direction of Sonia Signoracci and Andrea Vella and with the support of the Municipality of Santa Marinella, brings the big screen back to the heart of this tradition.

The Apollo d'Oro

The heart of the event is the competition: the finalist short films, selected from works from all over Italy and abroad, are screened in the presence of directors, actors, and screenwriters, and a jury of film and culture professionals awards the Apollo d'Oro, the prize that gives the festival its name. The award recalls the classical soul of the territory and has become a coveted goal for independent short cinema and young emerging authors over the years.

A story that began in 2014

The first edition dates back to 2014; by 2015, the competition already featured over fifty shorts in the running, with works arriving from as far as Iran, Romania, and Spain, and a tribute to Ingrid Bergman on the centenary of her birth. Edition after edition, the festival has grown to become a point of reference for Italian short film: the tenth edition was held in 2024 and the eleventh in July 2025, with a special tribute to 'Rome, Open City' for the 80th anniversary of Rossellini's masterpiece, in the presence of his grandson Alessandro Rossellini.

Cinema under the stars at the Arena Lucciola

Recent editions have taken place at the Arena Lucciola, a historic open-air cinema on the Via Aurelia, just a stone's throw from the sea: a symbolic place of Santa Marinella's summers, where screenings begin at 9:00 PM and the audience watches the shorts in the evening breeze of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Admission to the festival evenings is traditionally free.

More than just cinema

The festival is also a celebration of the arts: every evening is enriched by singing, dance, and theater performances by professionals, while meetings and debates bring the public closer to the craft of filmmaking. Great attention is paid to new generations, with activities dedicated to young people and schools and a space for student work.

Santa Marinella and the Lazio coast

Supported by the Municipality of Santa Marinella and included in the city's summer program, the festival is also an invitation to discover the coast north of Rome: the 'Pearl of the Tyrrhenian' with its small harbor and beaches, the nearby Castle of Santa Severa, and the Etruscan and Roman ruins of the coast. A setting that combines seaside vacation and culture, in the spirit of that bond between Lazio and cinema that the festival celebrates every year.