35mm Film Festival (3)

Festival start: 03 October 2026      Festival end: 04 October 2026

The 35mm Film Festival was born in Milan from our desire to share our love of cinema. We wanted to create a platform for talent, and an opportunity for artists and film enthusiasts to meet. The second edition of the festival was held on the 27th and 28th of September 2025, at the ‘Wanted Clan”, and was a great success. We are therefore excited to announce the third edition of the Film Festival, which will be held in MILAN, on October 3rd and 4th, 2026.

The festival takes place over two consecutive days. The first day is dedicated to the SCREENINGS of the projects selected to participate at the festival, while the second is comprised of PANELS with the directors in competition, the screenings of 35’’ Film Contest* selection, and finally THE AWARD CEREMONY.

We accept short films from all over the world. Fiction, animation or documentary, of any genre and shot on all types of support, both digital and analog. Please reach out to us at info@35mmfilmfestival.com for further information.

AWARDS AND SCREENING

Screenings of the 16 selected short films will take place during October 3rd, 2026, while the awards will be presented during the final evening of the festival on October 4th, 2026.

The audience present at the screenings will be able to vote throughout the viewings, and the audience’s favourite work will be awarded the AUDIENCE AWARD.

The 35mm Film Festival jury will assign an award for each of the following categories:

- BEST FICTION SHORT FILM
- BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
- BEST DIRECTOR
- BEST SCREENPLAY
- BEST ACTOR
- BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
- BEST EDITING
- BEST SOUND

The 16 works selected at the Festival will be announced on September 1st, 2026.
All 16 selected films will be screened during the two-day festival. The winners will be announced during the awards ceremony at the end of the festival.

REGISTRATION

Registration for the 35mm Film Festival opens on February 9th, 2026 and closes on August 9th, 2026.


Notification Day (Official Selection) September 1st.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS.

- Short films and documentaries under 35 minutes, made no earlier than January 1st 2024, are eligible for the competition.

- Works from all parts of the world are admitted to the competition without exception, provided that films not made in the Italian language are subtitled in Italian or english.

- Each Author may enter more than one work.

- By submitting a project, the author declares that s/he owns all rights of economic use and vision of the project in its entirety. S/he also declares that the project is original and does not infringe on the rights of any third party. In case of an untrue statement and in case of any claims by the actual copyright holders, the authors absolve the Festival and the organizers from any legal and economic liability and agree to be fully responsible for the consequences attached to and connected with the copyright claims.

- By entering the competition, you allow the Festival to use your project and the material that will be requested for publicity, media and promotional purposes, as well as permission to screen your work during the days of the event.

- The author agrees to provide an e-mail address, to which all relevant communications will be sent.

- In the case of films entered by festival distribution companies, the author's e-mail contact must be provided at the time of entry.

- Please feel free to contact the organizers at info@35mmfilmfestival.com if you have any questions before submitting your work to the 35mm Film Festival.

- If your work is not selected for the competition, the entry fee will not be refunded.

- In case the Festival decides, at its sole discretion, to screen works out of competition, the authors of those works will be contacted by the organization.

- Works must be submitted to the Festival no later than August 9th, 2026, so that the organization can view them all.

SELECTION and ADMISSION TO THE COMPETITION.

- Candidate films will be initially evaluated by a technical committee to certify that they possess the requirements of the regulations.

- Entry does not actually imply selection of the work at the Festival.

- The selection of films is made by and at the discretion of the Festival.

- Official selections will be announced on September 1st, 2026.

- 16 projects will be admitted to the Official Competition Selection.

- Then the works will be judged by an external jury that will decide the winners in the various categories.

- The owners of the works selected for the competition and the festival days must send the material useful for screening and publicity communication by September 12th, 2026. This means the short film and trailer files, through online file transfer services (e.g., WeTransfer), and a poster of the film. Videos must have the following quality requirements in order to ensure optimal streaming: maximum size of 40 GB; a minimum resolution of 1920x1080; a video codec: Apple ProRes 422HQ or Apple ProRes 444 / H264. The poster of the film must be in A4 vertical format, with a minimum resolution of 300dpi (29.7 x 21 cm / 3508 x 2480 px) and in JPG format.

- The screening schedule and times are decided by the Festival Management, which will publish a guide to the works presented. The screening will take place in a cinema venue.

- All 16 selected projects will be screened during the first day of the Festival, October 3rd, 2026, and compete in all categories.