Villammare Festival Film&Friends
Eight days of cinema, meetings, and music on the Gulf of Policastro
About Villammare Festival
Cinema arrives on the Gulf of Policastro waterfront
At the end of every summer, Villammare, the seaside district of the Municipality of Vibonati in the province of Salerno, transforms into a small capital of cinema. The Villammare Festival Film&Friends was born in 2002 as a simple short film competition and, over two decades, has become a full-fledged cultural event featuring feature film competitions, premieres, meetings with authors, and musical evenings. The heart of the festival is Piazza Maria Santissima di Portosalvo, just a few steps from the sea: an open-air screen, chairs stretching to the mouths of the alleys, and an audience that fills the square until late at night every evening.
The sections: from shorts to feature films
The festival's structure has been enriched edition after edition. Today, the international calls for entries include four competition categories:
- Short Films — the historic section where it all began, open to authors from all over the world.
- Feature Films — a more recent addition, with a particular focus on debut works and films that are difficult to distribute.
- Artificial Shorts — a section dedicated to works created in whole or in part with artificial intelligence.
- Film&Reel — reserved for young people between 16 and 30, featuring one-minute social media formats.
Not just screenings
The formula championed by the organizers is a non-stop event of cinema, meetings, screenings, and musical performances. Alongside the competition awards — best film, direction, screenplay, cinematography, soundtrack, acting — the festival assigns special recognitions such as the Italian Cinema in the World award, the Master of Italian Cinema award, the Cinema&Music award, and the Giorgio Arlorio Prize. After the screenings, the event continues with social gatherings and gastronomic moments: this is the "Friends" part of the title, which gives the festival the informal tone of a successful village celebration.
A quarter-century of guests and discoveries
Over the years, directors like Lina Wertmüller and Citto Maselli, composers like Nicola Piovani and Luis Bacalov, and actors like Lello Arena and Fabio Fulco have passed through Villammare. More recent editions have seen on stage, among others, Riccardo Scamarcio, Sergio Rubini, Stefano Fresi, Maurizio De Giovanni, Bianca Nappi, and Giovanni Esposito. The festival also has a vocation for discovery: the selection of shorts draws from lesser-known cinematographies — Taiwan, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Estonia, Sweden — and among the authors who have passed through here are Andrea Jublin, who later reached the Oscars, and Pippo Mezzapesa, winner of a David di Donatello.
A festival rooted in the territory
The event is organized by the Villammare Film Festival Association with the collaboration of the Municipality of Vibonati, the support of the Campania Region, and the patronage of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park; the historic media partner is the broadcaster 105 TV. In recent years, the festival has also developed a sustainability path — "Green Festival," soft mobility, collaborations with Legambiente and Rotary — consistent with a national park and seaside context.
When to go
The festival always takes place in the last week of August, when Cilento is still full of visitors but the evenings begin to cool down: it is the ideal time to combine a day at the beach with an evening of cinema in the square. Villammare and Vibonati are part of the Gulf of Policastro, the extreme southern tip of Campania on the border with Basilicata, and the festival is now the cultural appointment that officially closes the summer season of the district.
Villammare Festival — edition 2026
The twenty-fifth anniversary edition
The Villammare Festival Film&Friends reaches the milestone of twenty-five editions: from August 22 to 29, 2026, the town of Villammare, in the Municipality of Vibonati (province of Salerno), returns to host its non-stop cinema, meetings, screenings, and musical performances. The organizers have presented it as an edition with an international vocation, with actors, directors, and cinema personalities expected throughout the week.
Calls and sections
The calls for international competitions were opened in the spring and closed on June 28, 2026: entries were handled through the official website and the FilmFreeway platform. The historic short film competition and the feature film competition are joined by two new features: Artificial Shorts, reserved for works created in whole or in part with artificial intelligence, and Film&Reel, designed for young people between 16 and 30 with one-minute social formats shared with the hashtag #filmreel2026.
What to expect
As per tradition, the week is divided into two parts: the first days are dedicated to short film marathons and premieres, while from the second part of the festival, the evenings move to Piazza Maria Santissima di Portosalvo, with guests, films in competition, and, on the last evening, the awards ceremony. The festival is part of the 2026 summer program of the Municipality of Vibonati, which this year also includes concerts, literary reviews, and open-air cinema.
Programme Villammare Festival 2026
The detailed program of the twenty-fifth edition — titles in competition, guests, and evening schedules — has not yet been published: it is usually released in the weeks immediately preceding the festival, after the selection process closes.
What is already confirmed:
- Dates: from Saturday, August 22 to Saturday, August 29, 2026, eight consecutive days.
- Main venue: Piazza Maria Santissima di Portosalvo, in Villammare.
- Calls: international competition entries closed on June 28, 2026, via the official website and FilmFreeway.
- Competition sections: short films, feature films, "Artificial Shorts" (works created in whole or in part with artificial intelligence), and "Film&Reel" for authors between 16 and 30, with one-minute videos.
- Formula: screenings, premieres, meetings with actors and directors, and musical performances, leading up to the final evening awards ceremony.
In recent editions, the first days were reserved for afternoon short film marathons and premieres, with gala evenings and guests concentrated in the second half of the week in Piazza Portosalvo. We will update this page as soon as the organization publishes the complete calendar.
Highlights Villammare Festival 2026
- Twenty-fifth edition, presented as a special international edition closing the summer in the Gulf of Policastro.
- Debut of the "Artificial Shorts" section, dedicated to films created in whole or in part with artificial intelligence.
- New "Film&Reel" section for young people between 16 and 30, with one-minute social formats.
- International short and feature film competitions with professional juries and a final awards ceremony.
- Open-air evenings in Piazza Maria Santissima di Portosalvo, a few meters from the sea.
Prices Villammare Festival 2026
Practical information — Villammare Festival
Where it takes place
The headquarters for the evenings is Piazza Maria Santissima di Portosalvo, in the center of Villammare, a district of Vibonati (84079, province of Salerno). The initial days dedicated to short film marathons are held in other spaces in the town, indicated from time to time in the program.
How to get there
By car, you can reach Villammare from the SS18 Tirrena Inferiore road, which runs along the Gulf of Policastro. By train, the nearest station is Sapri, on the Tyrrhenian line, a few kilometers from the town and connected by bus and taxi. In summer, parking in the center is limited: it is advisable to arrive early or leave the car along the waterfront.
Admission
The evenings in Piazza Portosalvo are traditionally free of charge; in recent editions, it has been possible to reserve seats through the "Friends of the Festival" card.
Contacts
Official website: villammarefilmfestival.it — email: [email protected]. Competition entries are handled through the website and the FilmFreeway platform.
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