Strano Film Festival

The Strano Film Festival in Capestrano

The Strano Film Festival is an international short film festival dedicated to the theme of the land, held biennially in Capestrano, in the province of L'Aquila, in the heart of Abruzzo. Rooted in the wild and authentic landscapes of the Tirino Valley, the festival has chosen the scenic medieval courtyard of the Castello Piccolomini as its main stage, where evening screenings take place outdoors under the Abruzzo sky.

Much more than a film festival

The Strano is not just a film review, but a shared cultural immersion. Alongside the screenings of selected short films, the program offers walks through historic villages, meetings with local farmers, winemakers, cheesemakers, and artisans, excursions on the Tirino River (one of the clearest waterways in Europe), community cooking moments, and workshops led by locals, artists, and anthropologists. It is a way to experience the village and its community, not just to attend an event.

An international showcase

Each edition, the festival attracts directors and artists from all over the world: past editions have received over a thousand submissions from about eighty countries, from which a selection of short films from Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania is curated. Through the lens of short cinema, the Strano Film Festival tells the profound relationship between man and the land: migration, agriculture, geology, rebirth, and the stories of women and men whose lives embody the very idea of being a force of nature.

In the heart of Abruzzo

Hosted by the Municipality of Capestrano, a small village overlooking the Tirino Valley, the Strano Film Festival has become a benchmark for independent cinema focused on environmental and territorial themes in Abruzzo. The combination of the quality of the international selection, the setting of the Castello Piccolomini, and the immersive experience in the landscape makes it a unique event in the panorama of Italian short film festivals.