PREMIO ATENA NIKE (5)

Festival start: 09 July 2026      Festival end: 09 July 2026

The Atena Nike Film Award, now in its fourth edition, is distinguished by the growing space it dedicates each year to emerging talents and debut works.

We are already working on the fourth edition, the 2025 edition: this year, as in previous years, both short films and feature films may be submitted.
As always, the theme is linked to social issues.

Date and location of the new edition:
9 July – Casa del Cinema, Rome

Submission deadlines
Feature films: 28 February 2026
Short films: 28 April 2026

Artistic Director: Giampietro Preziosa

Giampietro Preziosa

An architect and film producer, he has made his artistic flair into a profession, bringing his innovative ideas into the cinematic field. A skilled communicator and businessman, he is a key figure at INTHEL FILM S.r.l., a film production company with thirty years of experience. He has overseen the artistic direction of the Atena Nike Award in previous editions, giving the Prize a distinctly refined identity and high editorial quality.

Alina Trabattoni

Journalist and foreign correspondent with decades of experience at major outlets including CGTN Europe, TRT World, Reuters, Bloomberg, Associated Press, BBC, LA Times, CNN, CNBC, ABC, People Magazine, NBC, Eurovision, Standard & Poor’s Platts, Deutsche Welle, The Times, Screen International, the European Broadcast Union (EBU), International Herald Tribune, Euronews, and Montel News. She served as co-artistic director of the Globo D’Oro Film Award for six editions, beginning in 2018.

Artistic Management
Fabrizio Apolloni

(Artistic management and direction of the awards ceremony)
Actor, voice actor and dubbing director, Apolloni began working in theatre at a very young age, later moving into film and TV. Also active in education, he is currently a teacher at Action Academy. He is a member of the supervisory board of Nuovo Imaie and a founding member of RAAI – the Register of Italian Actresses and Actors.

Salvo Saverio D’Angelo

(Short Film Jury Coordinator)
Actor and music producer under the pseudonym SSd Project, he trained at Francesca De Sapio’s acting school and at Actors Planet. His eclectic personality has led him to work in TV, cinema and music. He has been a radio presenter, TV correspondent for Rai2 Notte, and TV host on Sky channels and for TV Cinquestelle. He has received various awards, including the Atena Nike Award.

Armando Pizzuti

(Artistic management)
One of the most respected casting directors in the Italian film scene, his career began in 2015 collaborating with major Italian and international productions, including the series The Young Pope directed by Oscar-winner Paolo Sorrentino. Since then, he has worked with renowned directors such as Ben Affleck, Derek Cianfrance, David Frankel, Terrence Malick, Simon Curtis, Edoardo Ponti and Michael Mann. In 2022 he received the Ischia People Award as Best Casting Director for his contribution to Italian cinema worldwide.

Academy

The work of the artistic management, co-directors and the foreign press jury is supported by an Academy selected for its experience and high artistic and professional qualification. It consists of five figures from the fields of acting, cinema, music and theatre.

Claudia Gerini

An eclectic and versatile actress, born in Rome, where she began her artistic career. After working in fashion and television, she gained public attention with Carlo Verdone in Viaggi di nozze and Sono pazzo di Iris Blond. Hollywood cast her in Under the Tuscan Sun and in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, where she played Claudia Procula, the wife of Pontius Pilate. In 2004 she appeared in Don’t Move by Sergio Castellitto. Many intense years followed with Nero bifamiliare, The Unknown Woman, My Tomorrow by Marina Spada, and the horror film Tulpa by Zampaglione. She returned to comedy in Love Is in the Air by Fausto Brizzi. She achieved international fame in John Wick 2 with Keanu Reeves and won the David di Donatello for Love and Bullets by the Manetti Bros. On TV she played Sara Monaschi in Netflix’s Suburra. She made her directorial debut in 2022 with Tapirulan and recently appeared in Il corpo by Vincenzo Alfieri.

Lucia Sardo (Aurora Sardo)

Actress, director and screenwriter, she studied under major masters of experimental theatre such as Eugenio Barba, Peter Brook and Jerzy Grotowski. She founded the Institute of Theatrical Culture in Santarcangelo di Romagna and directed the prestigious Santarcangelo Festival, one of the most important experimental theatre events in Europe. She made her film debut in 1992, working with directors such as Aurelio Grimaldi, Giuseppe Tornatore and Marco Tullio Giordana in One Hundred Steps. Unforgettable protagonist of Picciridda – With Feet in the Sand by Paolo Licata and The Carousel by Giorgia Cecere, she reached Hollywood with the Netflix series From Scratch by Reese Witherspoon, alongside Zoe Saldana. Her collaboration with Franco Battiato, playing herself, is memorable. Recently she appeared as Lucia in It Happens in the Best Families and as Rosa Balistreri in The Love I Have, presented at the Torino Film Festival.

Lorenzo Urciullo & Antonio Di Martino (Colapesce & Dimartino)

The Sicilian singer-songwriters, best known as Colapesce and Dimartino, are among the most acclaimed names in contemporary Italian music. Since 2020 the duo has won over audiences and critics with songs such as Musica leggerissima and Splash, earning multiple awards: at Sanremo, the Lucio Dalla Press Room Award and the Mia Martini Critics’ Prize; a Nastro d’Argento; and Best Original Score at the Globo d’Oro Film Award. They are also active in cinema, with their first film La primavera della mia vita, accompanied by an album of the same name.

Federica Vincenti

Actress, theatre and film producer, singer and composer. In 2004 she founded Goldenart Production, an outstanding company producing numerous theatre shows, feature films and short films marked by strong artistic and emotional identity, earning her many awards. Since 2006 she has acted and sung in various theatre and film productions, working with directors such as Roberto Andò and Michele Placido, and performing alongside icons like Giorgio Albertazzi, Mariangela Melato, Moni Ovadia, Massimo Ranieri and many others. After playing Marta Abba in Michele Placido’s latest film Eterno visionario, she is currently preparing to star in the new theatre production Sissi, the Empress, directed by Roberto Cavosi, premiering in late February 2025.

Press Jury

For the 2026 edition, a press jury will again be introduced, composed of Italian and international journalists, experts in their field and passionate about cinema.
The Press Jury is chaired by Vera Naydenova, journalist and Italy correspondent for bTV Media Group. From 2018 to 2024 she was part of the Cinema Committee as Head of TV Series for the prestigious Foreign Press Award Globo d’Oro. She currently also serves as a Board Member of the Association of Foreign Press in Italy.

Short Film Section

Responsible:
Salvo Saverio D’Angelo

Jury President:
……………

Jury Members:

Matthew Gentile, award-winning director and screenwriter, known to the general public for his debut feature film American Murderer, which achieved significant success.

Paolo Licata, director, trained in film and theatre directing at Cinecittà; he made his film debut with his first feature Picciridda, awarded at the Taormina Film Festival. His latest film L’amore che ho will be released in theatres in spring.

Alessandro del Vigna, Italian-Romanian film producer and writer, executive producer of Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund), Siberia (Abel Ferrara) and The End (Joshua Oppenheimer).

Donatella Pascucci, expert in French cinema; she has worked for the Gan Foundation, and been involved in the organization of the Italian Film Festival, Comicittà, the Campidoglio Masters of Cinema Award, and the Barbaro Award for Best Cinema Book. She has served on juries for the Montre Leonard Festival du Film d’Amour in Mons, the Bolzano Film Festival, the Florence Short Film Festival, and Valdarno Cinema. She is a member of the Italy-France Co-production Commission of the Ministry of Culture (Cinema and Audiovisual Directorate).

Marianna Sciveres, Italian director, screenwriter and set designer, graduated in set design from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. In 2002 she made her first feature film Sara May, a work of national cultural interest. She has been a set and costume designer for numerous film and TV productions.

Heidrun Schleef, Italian screenwriter of German origin, studied directing at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. She has received three David di Donatello nominations and two Nastro d’Argento awards, and has worked with numerous masters of cinema.

The award consists of the Atena Nike statuette (inspired by the Nike of Kalkis by the Sicilian sculptor Carmelo Mendola), created by the Calabrian sculptor Massimo Sirelli.

Awards
Feature Film Section

Best Actor

Best Actress

Best Casting Director

Best Screenplay

Best Music

Best Film (2026 Press Award)

Best Director

Best Debut Feature

Short Film Section

Best Short Film

Best Short Film – Audience Award

Best Actor

Best Actress

Benefits for the Winners

Press office and media relations support

Accommodation

Red carpet

PREMISES

The cultural association SICILIA ATTIVA and the Bump Today Film Production Company have
conceived and promoted, starting from 2022, an artistic project called "Premio Cinematograco Atena Nike" with the aim of bringing to the attention of civil society, media and institutions through the immediacy of the short story with the precise objective that it becomes a moment of cultural growth
through cinema and the show. The aim is to bring out and valorize talents of any age
race and gender through dialogue and storytelling on the big screen

1. PLACE AND DATES OF THE EVENT
The Award will take place on 9 July 2026 in Taormina, on the days in which the Film Festival will take place.

The organization reserves the right to communicate the location of the event later.

The venue, the program and all the notices will be public on our ocial channels and on the website www.premioatenanike.it

The organization also reserves the right to change the dates of the Award in the event of extraordinary needs. In particular, in compliance with the anti-Covid regulatory provisions, the event could undergo
modifications in the methods of implementation and sliamen of dates.

Competition deadline: the short films must be sent, according to the methods reported below, by the Deadline for short films: 28 April 2026, Deadline for feature films: 28 February 2026 unless extensions are communicated on the ocial website of the Festival www.premioatenanike.it

2. CONTENT OF THE PROJECTS AND DOCUMENTATION
The "Premio Cinematograco Atena Nike" focuses aention on the theme of diversity. The event has the aim of promoting the cinematographic work of established or first-time authors, belonging to schools, film/performance academies, universities, or graduates.
Directors who know how to focus and tell their stories through images.

Short films and/or animated films with a maximum duration of 15 minutes, including opening and closing credits, are accepted in the competition. Any minimum exceeding of this limit will be exceptionally permitted by the Director Arsco.

Each short must be presented as an mp4 and in two versions: one with and one without subtitles and must be accompanied by the online form on the site suitable for pre-registration.

Works without sootoli (gui for accessibility for deaf people to cinematographic works) and which do not meet the participation requirements will not be taken into consideration and will be excluded a priori.

3. PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS
The "Athena Nike Cinematographic Award" is open to all. Registrations are limited to 3 works per author and/or director.

Pre-registration of the work in competition must be done using a specific online form on the website www.premioatenanike.it

Please remember to carefully follow the instructions and if necessary contact the executive management of the Prize at the following telephone number 0039 065756000

The works, strictly in mp4 format, with or without subtitles, must be accompanied by:

• Pre-registration and release form, available on the website www.premioatenanike.it in the
short films section;

• Poster in jpg/ /jpeg image format;

• Photograph of the director of the work in jpg/ /jpeg image format

• Technical sheet of the work in competition, available on the website www.premioatenanike.it in the
short films section;

• Valid identification document of the owner of the work;

• Valid scale code of the work title;

Works from all over the world are admitted to the Competition and will be, during the selection phase, examined by the selection body and/or the Arsco Committee headed by the Arsco Director, the Executive Director and the President of the Prize.

Foreign works must have subtitles in Italian; the absence of subtitles will be cause for exclusion from the competition.

Please remember that all works, to be admitted, must be products that are not visible in clear on the web or on other open access platforms or in the process of being published.

4. PROJECT SUBMISSION TERMS AND CONDITIONS
To register for the Award, payment must be made to Today Entertainment
Srl
IBAN: IT98E 08713 16900 000000427819


Alternatively, using the Festhome button, available on the website www.premioatenanike.it in the short films section, it is possible to access and make the payment via PayPal.

After filling out the forms, and the payment receipt to the following email address (info@premioatenanike.it), the secretariat will send an email in a few days with the lists of mandatory materials and the instructions for finalizing the registration.

The works must be provided in mp4 format and in two versions, one with full subtitles, already printed in the video, the second without subtitles. The works can be sent through services such as Google Drive, WeTransfer or Vimeo with the relevant Password and download enablement.

Deadline for short films: 28 April 2026
Deadline for feature films: 28 February 2026

The material sent will not be returned and will become part of of the historical archive of the Athena Nike Award.

The results of the selection will then be made public on the Athena Nike Award website, and the information will be shared via press releases, online magazines and specialized internet.

The short films must be sent in mp4 format to the following email address
iscrizione@premioatenanike.it using programs such as WeTransfer, Google Drive or via a link
Vimeo with the relevant password and download enablement, respecting the following requirements:

• SENDING FILE
File type: Codec: H264
Format: 1920x1080 Bitrate: minimum 25,000 kbps (files for a duration of 18 minutes and approximately 3.5 GB) and
25 fps
Audio: uncompressed
Titles and subtitles must be inside the safe area File named as follows:
Titololm_regia.mp4

Send the files to the email address iscrizione@premioatenanike.it
N.B. the works must be sent in mp4 format, with subtitles.

5. EXPERT JURIES AND prizes AWARDED
The works submitted will be judged by two more juries, the Athena Nike Award Jury and the artistic and executive management.

The Jury, composed of experts in the fields of cinema, writing, entertainment, communication, sociology and music, will have the task of assigning the following prizes:

- Athena Nike Award Best Short Film,
- and the award plaques for:
- Best Arice
- Best Sound
- Best Screenplay
- Best Photography
- Best Music

6. EVALUATION CRITERIA
The selected works will be examined by a Jury composed of experts in the fields of cinema, writing, entertainment, communication, sociology and music.

The final works will be judged by this jury.

Finally, in addition to the technical-cinematographic quality, the Jury will evaluate in a particularly positive way the works that:

• Tell the fragility of people living with violence/discrimination/marginalization;

• Face the diversity and fragility of people and places in a natural and original way;

• Promote knowledge and above all the valorization of the different and the fragile, focusing on overcoming prejudices;

• Promote knowledge of the issues related to ecology, sustainability and climate change;

• Document the relationship between people and nature, in the concept of sustainable development;

• Highlight the clichés and stereotypes of collective imaginations;

• Promote diversity as wealth;

• Promote the right to be different, expressing it also with imagination and irony;

• Identify a path of integration and inclusion for marginalized people;

• They will be able to tell different points of view, trying to find common points of coexistence;

• They will draw the value of legality, understood as rules useful for the construction of the common good, in an educational and training path for young people and for people who have committed crimes;

• They will deal with sensitive and current issues such as safety in the workplace, irregular work, organized crime, gangmastering to propose new cinematographic stories

7. INFORMATION ON THE PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA
Participants, with the presentation of the works carried out and the relative registration for the competition, will consent to the processing of their personal data, for the competition needs, pursuant to Legislative Decree no. 196/2003 and pursuant to article 13 of the European Regulation 2016/679 - GDPR.

The participant authorizes the cultural association SICILIA ATTIVA, organizer of the “ ATENA NIKE PRIZE”, to
publish the images, photographs and films and/or videos recorded during the Festival on its website, in
catalogues, and/or on other means of communication deemed suitable, and even for public and private dissemination
without, however, compromising personal dignity and decorum.

The participant also agrees
that such authorization of rights of use is not in conflict with any contractual agreements and/or rights of
representation agencies, releasing the UCL from
any claims by third parties in relation to such granting of rights. The participant authorizes the use
of the image/s and music which are to be considered free of charge.

The participant, pursuant to Legislative Decree 196/2003 and Article 13 of European Regulation 2016/679
- GDPR., declares to be fully informed of the purposes and methods of processing of personal data
consciously indicated in the form and to authorize the archiving of the material presented
in the history of the Atena Nike Award.

All personal data and those protected by the law on privacy are and will be processed by us according to principles
of correctness, lawfulness and transparency, protecting your rights, for the purposes and with the methods provided by the
law ​​for the protection of Privacy.

The participant declares to have full totality of the rights of exploitation of the assets by law
633/1941 granted on the cinematographic work entered by him for this Award.

The Organiser reserves the right to use all the material received and the works submitted for examination juries, therefore finalists, for promotional purposes of the social message linked to the festival.

Therefore they may be the subject of public screenings in promotional events or public demonstrations
that the Association, or a Company identified by it, deems to be of great social commitment.

8. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Participation in the Award implies full acceptance of the following Regulations and its attachments.

The “Athena Nike Award” has the purpose of giving maximum visibility in journalism, television and cinema to the
work of the director and cast of the works sent for selection in the competition. For this reason
the organization reserves the right to exclude, at its discretion, from the shortlist of those works that,
during the period of the festival, will participate in parallel in other film competitions, for the various
sections, similar and/or air events.

The winners undertake to indicate the name and logo "Premio Atena Nike" in the title of their project.

All works of a racist, pornographic or diamatorical nature and in violation of any rule of the legal system will be automatically rejected.

The prizes will be awarded only in the presence of the winning director or his official representative. The secretariat will not send any prizes. The judgement of the juries is final.

9. DISPUTES
The requests for membership to the Prize imply the unconditional acceptance of this regulation and its attachments. The Festival Management has the final decision-making right on all matters not specified in this regulation. The Court of ROME has jurisdiction over any disputes.