The Italian Cultural Institute participates to the initiative promoted by the National Short Film Center, in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, for the screening, around the world, of a selection of Italian short films chosen amongst the most particular and representative works made in 2025. The selection, like every year, presents an overview of contemporary short productions, shot on very different genres and topics.
Over the years, the initiative has been an ideal showcase for short works that, during the year, hardly leave the festival circuit.
The selected films will be screened at Cinema Le Colisée.
- “Vista mare”, by Nicola Bartoleschi, Nicoletta Busto, Emanuele Ricciardi, 2025, 4 min. 44”
A charming Italian village, nestled between sea and mountains, is drowned every summer by hordes of tourists hungry for “authenticity”. Between selfies, spaghetti binges, yachts, fires and postcard-perfect patriotism, the picturesque village is transformed into a grotesque Mediterranean theme park. But something seems about to give way. - “Via Bellezza 11”, by Giuseppe Cardaci, 2025, 18 min.
Anna, newly moved into a building where everyone ignores one another, decides to honor the dedication of the concierge, Franco, by teaching her neighbors the importance of his small, kind gestures. By working together, they give him one last chance to win the ‘Best Concierge in Italy’ award. - “I fantasmi”, by Federico Papagna, 2025, 15 min.
In the Italian countryside, two teenagers and their friends are persistently searching for Luca, a peer to whom they gave a small sum of money in advance without receiving the hashish they had requested. Filippo, one of the boys involved in the scam, must try to keep secret the violent plan his friends have devised to take revenge. - “Caffè Nero Bollente”, by Cinzia Pedrizzetti, 2025, 19 min.
In a world where cell phones and electronic devices dominate human connection, there still exists one place untouched by technology, a place where love between a man and a woman can exist only in a romantic, intangible form. That place is prison. A young woman, raised amid violence, finds herself incarcerated. Within the stark confines of her cell, she must confront her past and embrace an illusory love to awaken her buried longing for emotion. In an environment where communication between men and women is almost impossible, she searches for a new language of feeling, a way to rediscover trust, tenderness, and the fragile beauty of being alive. - “Joy Jelly”, by Danilo Merafina, 2025, 20 min.
Rebecca (27), obsessed with candy, Hello Kitty, and Hannah Montana, sets out to find her parents’ house. Fifteen years after last seeing them, she is determined to move back, blurring the line between nostalgia and obsession. - “Milano Infetta”, by Tommaso Cohen, 2025, 20 min.
Milan, 1982. The story of the Virus squat is intertwined with the transformation of a city that, leaving behind the Resistance and workers’ struggles, is becoming a capital of business and glamour. - “Mambo Kids”, by Emanuele Tresca, 2025, 20 min.
On a quiet late-summer day, Alessandro and Flavio set out in search of the last secrets of their city. Some paths lead them to unexplored places: on a great cherry tree they wait for the night. A beer with friends in a deserted square, mopeds heading home, and then nothing more. - “Addio, ben trovati”, by Alfredo Arvalli, 2025, 14 min.
Marcello returns to his hometown after years abroad, expecting everything to be exactly as he left it. However, he soon faces the harsh reality of time’s passage, discovering that places, people, and even he himself have irreversibly changed. - “Fiji”, by Andrea Lamedica, 2025, 12 min.
Four young flight attendants from the low-cost airline PanoramicAir find themselves in a hotel room the night before their flight. Two of them have never flown before, while the other two have. To ease their anxiety, they laugh and joke together, until a role-playing game disrupts the balance of the group, revealing a deep truth. - “Le prime volte”, by Giulia Cosentino e Perla Sardella, 2025, 16 min.
Two imagined and never sent letters recount, each from their own point of view, two womenʼs shared youth spent at a girlsʼ boarding school. The days flowed monotonously boring, except at night, when Emilia and Caterina met, far from the surrounding world that did not contemplate their desire to discover each other in each otherʼs bodies. The images and sounds of that secret time return, fuelling the desire to tell each other the things they never said.