Trieste Science+Fiction Festival

The future on stage in Trieste

Heir to the historic International Science Fiction Film Festival founded in the Sixties, the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival has been the most important Italian event dedicated to genre cinema since 2000: science fiction, horror, fantasy, and visions of the future. Organized by the film studies centre La Cappella Underground, it is a multidisciplinary event that explores the territories of the fantastic and the use of new technologies and experimental languages in cinema, television, and visual arts.

Premieres and international competitions

The heart of the festival is the Premio Asteroide (Asteroid Award), an international competition dedicated to first and second feature films in the fantastic genre, alongside the prestigious Méliès d'argent, a European award for the genre. Each edition features dozens of world, international, and national premieres, attracting tens of thousands of spectators through screenings, conferences, and meetings with directors.

Venues and the city

The festival primarily takes place at the Politeama Rossetti, the grand theatre hosting the gala evenings and awards ceremony, and at the Ariston Cinema, with screenings also accessible online via partner platforms. Alongside the cinema, the festival offers a packed programme of collateral events dedicated to the relationship between the science fiction imagination, science, and ethics, from artificial intelligence to future dystopias.

A passionate community

Supported by the Municipality of Trieste and the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region, the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival has been a benchmark for genre enthusiasts in Italy and Europe for over twenty years. With cosplay, awards, books, and screenings, it's a grand celebration of the imagination that transforms Trieste into the Italian capital of science fiction every autumn.