Videocorto Festival

A festival born as a game, now an institution

The Videocorto Festival in Nettuno, in the province of Rome, began in 1996 almost as a bet by a group of enthusiasts who wanted to give visibility to short films made with limited means but plenty of ideas. Thirty years later, that bet has become Italy's longest-running national short film festival, a recognized benchmark for Italian short cinema and one of the most iconic cultural events of the Nettuno summer.

Organized by the Pro Loco Association of Nettuno with the patronage of the Municipality and the support of the Lazio Region, the festival takes place every year at the end of August at the Pro Loco beach club, with the screen set up just a few steps from the shore. Admission is traditionally free: a choice that has remained unchanged over time and explains much of the bond between the event and the city.

How the competition works

The competition is reserved for fiction works between 5 and 25 minutes long, preferably unreleased, selected each year from hundreds of submissions from all over Italy. The format includes a semi-final evening, where the audience chooses the shorts that advance to the actual competition, followed by the competition nights and the final awards ceremony.

Numerous awards are presented, covering all professional roles on set:

• Gold, Silver, and Bronze Videocorto for the top three ranked works
• Audience Award, assigned by the spectators present
• Best Director and Best Screenplay
• Best Actor and Best Actress
• Best Cinematography and other technical awards

Juries and guests

One of the hallmarks of Videocorto is the jury composed of Italian film and television professionals: recent editions have included, among others, Antonio Catania, Carlotta Natoli, Thomas Trabacchi, and Paolo Di Paolo. Each evening is enriched by the presence of guests—actors, directors, screenwriters, musicians, and writers—who engage with the audience and the filmmakers in a deliberately informal format that brings viewers closer to the concrete work of a film set.

Alongside the evening screenings, the festival offers the Videocorto Salons, afternoon meetings in the center of Nettuno where jurors and authors discuss topics related to writing, independent production, and the acting profession.

Nettuno, the coast, and the setting

Nettuno is a town on the southern coast of the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, in Lazio, about an hour from the capital. The city is known for its medieval old town, the Forte Sangallo, the Sanctuary of Santa Maria Goretti, and the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, a memorial site linked to the Anzio landing. In August, the town experiences its most intense season of the year, with the Nettuno Summer program featuring concerts, jazz festivals, sporting events, and evenings in the square alongside the Videocorto.

Why it's worth visiting

Videocorto is one of those festivals where the formula works precisely because it has remained simple: you arrive at sunset, have dinner or a drink at the village set up in the beach club, and at 8:45 PM the screenings under the stars begin. The audience votes, discusses, and applauds; the filmmakers sit among the spectators. For those on holiday on the Roman coast, it is a free opportunity to preview the work of emerging Italian directors, many of whom have since moved on to feature films or television series.

As it is an open-air event with free admission, it is advisable to arrive early for the final evenings, which are traditionally the most crowded.