PREMIO ATENA NIKE (6)

Festival start: 09 July 2027      Festival end: 26 October 2027

Now in its fifth year, the Atena Nike Award has established itself as one of the most prestigious events in the Italian film scene dedicated to the union of art, culture, and social commitment.

Created with the goal of celebrating excellence and talent, the Award continues to give a voice to those who, through the seventh art, explore civil rights, the promotion of local culture, and creative innovation.

This special edition reaffirms its mission: to reward not only technical mastery but also the narrative power of directors, actors, and professionals who know how to move audiences and provoke reflection. With a keen eye on independent cinema and the next generation, the event transforms the stage into a meeting place for the industry’s leading figures and the rising stars of the future.

Blending culture and beauty, the fifth edition celebrates the power of cinema as a tool for dialogue, honoring stories that leave a lasting impression on the collective imagination.

Date and location of the fifth edition: October 9, 2026 – Casa del Cinema – Rome

The Film Award reaffirms its mission of talent scouting.

Submissions for short and feature-length films are officially OPEN for the 6TH EDITION (2027). A valuable opportunity for independent filmmakers and emerging productions to submit their works to a distinguished jury and compete for prestigious awards.

PATRON OF THE ATENA NIKE AWARD: Fabio Saccuzzo

ARTISTIC MANAGEMENT

Artistic Director: Giampietro Preziosa
Coordination Manager: Valentina Marchese
Creative Supervisor: Livia Bonifazi
Film Expert: Elena Tenga

ACADEMY

The artistic management team is supported by an Academy, selected for its experience and high level of artistic and professional expertise. The Academy consists of seven members from the worlds of acting, film, music, and theater.
Claudia Gerini
Donatella Finocchiaro
Lucia Sardo
Federica Vincenti
Tania Bambaci

FEATURE FILM JURY
Marco Simon Puccioni (chair)
Donatella Pascucci
Heidrum Schleeft
Marianna Sciveres
Luana Rondinelli
Luca Arcidiacono
Diana Rulli

SHORT FILM JURY
Daniela Giordano (chair)
Piero Nicosia
Sabina Pariante
Giusi Cataldo
Annalisa Putorti’
Ornella Giusto
Maria Carla Rodomonte
Manuela Rima


NEW SECTION: INCLUSIVE CINEMA
PArt – Creator and Partner of the “Inclusive Cinema” Section

For the Atena Nike Award, PArt conceived and curates the Inclusive Cinema section, coordinated by Giusi Cataldo, actress, director, and artistic director, and Tiziano Di Cara, entrepreneur, creative professional, and event organizer.

The section was created with the goal of promoting a film culture that is increasingly accessible, inclusive, and attentive to the diversity of perspectives and human experiences, highlighting cinema as a tool for dialogue, participation, and cultural growth.

The award: the prestigious Athena Nike statuette, a creation by Calabrian sculptor Massimo Sirelli that pays homage to the famous Nike of Kalkis by Sicilian master Carmelo Mendola.
The work blends the wisdom of Athena with the triumph of Nike, transforming the myth into a symbol of excellence and resilience for cinema and contemporary entrepreneurship.

The awards:

Feature Film Section

• Best Film
• Best Director
• Best Screenplay
• Best Leading Actress
• Best Leading Actor
• Best Emerging Actor
• Best Emerging Actress
• Best Casting Director
• Best Original Score
• Best Debut Film

Short Film Section:

- Best Short Film
- Best Actor
- Best Actress

Inclusive Cinema Section—coordinated by Giusi Cataldo and Tiziano Di Cara (PART):

- Best “Inclusive Cinema” Short Film

Special Awards:

Presented by the Patron of the Atena NIke Award

- Sicilian Talent
- Women-Led Business
- Integrity
- Women Filmmakers

Special Mentions from Partners
Marsala Film Festival

Awarded by the Artistic Management

- Lifetime Achievement Award
- Social Impact Award
- Cinema & Business


Benefits for Winners:

Press office services
Hospitality
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.