Lucca Film Festival (22)

Inicio Festival: 26 septiembre 2026      Fin Festival: 04 octubre 2026

Lucca Film Festival is an annual event that celebrates and promotes cinematographic culture. Through screenings, exhibitions, conferences and performances, the Festival has been able to captivate an ever-increasing audience with a program that ranges from experimental to mainstream films. Through the years, Lucca Film Festival has carved out a niche for itself, standing apart from the many other festivals thanks to its bold yet carefully studied programming. Over the years, great names of international filmmakers and well-known celebrities have attended Lucca Film Festival as invited guests; David Lynch, Oliver Stone, Jeremy Irons, Willem Dafoe, George Romero, Terry Gilliam, William Friedkin, Alfonso Cuarón, John Boorman, Rutger Hauer, Joe Dante, Aleksandr Sokurov, Susan Sarandon, Gabriele Salvatores, Ethan Hawke, Paul Schrader and Peter Greenaway, just to name a few. At the same time, the Festival has offered retrospectives of “old” glories while unearthing new talents. To top it all off, breathtaking Lucca serve as a stunning backdrop to an event that has now firmly established itself, becoming a highly anticipated and not-to-be-missed appointment in Italy and in Europe: the Lucca Film Festival.

Since its creation, the festival has always been committed to promoting contemporary films. Therefore, directors from all over the world can submit their films to the competitive section of the festival through the dedicated call for entries. The 2026 edition of Lucca Film Festival will be held September 26th-October 4th.

Lucca Film Festival has 3 competitions: The International Feature Film Competition, The International Short Film Competition and The "Lucca Film Festival for Future" Short Film Competition.

The 2026 will be the 22nd edition of the Lucca Film Festival International Feature Film Competition. In the previous editions important personalities of cinema like Cristi Puiu, Rutger Hauer, Philip Groening, Claudio Giovannesi, Daniele Ciprì, Massimo Gaudioso, Massimo Cantini Parrini, Lina Nerli Taviani had been part of the international jury.
The films shown during this competition are Italian premieres and last edition was won by "The cage is looking for a bird" by Malika Musaeva.
There are four awards: Best feature film prize (3000€), awarded by a jury of renowned guests from both the cinematographic and academic worlds; and Best feature film – university jury prize (awarded by an university jury), Best feature film - Popular jury and the Marcello Petrozziello Award.
For those who are interested in this competition, the last day for submissions is July 15, 2026, until midnight.
There are no limitations to the genre or topic of the films. The only requirements are the following: the films must be at least 60 minutes long and must not have been screened before January 1st, 2026. Moreover, they must be Italian premieres, so they cannot have been presented in any other Italian festival, shown on any online open platform or distributed in any other way in Italy.

For the 20th year in a row, it will take place the historic short films competition, whose winner will receive a 1000€ prize. Every year, the selection committee of this competition receives more than 500 films to evaluate. Among the directors who took part in earlier editions, there are celebrities like Adan Jodorowsky, son of the famous Chilean filmmaker.
The films have no limitations in genre and topic. The only requirement is that they cannot last more than 29 minutes. For the short films competition, the last day for submissions is July 15, 2026, until midnight.

Second edition of the new short film competition,:"Lucca Film Festival for Future", which was born thanks to the collaboration with the Sofidel Group, 2nd producer in Europe and 7th in the world for production capacity in the sector of paper for hygienic and domestic use (known in particular for the Regina brand), which has made sustainability a strategic lever of development and responsible growth to reduce its impact on natural capital and favour the transition towards a low carbon impact economy.

List of the selected films will be published on the festival’s website within September 10, 2026. During the festival the movies will be shown in the cinemas taking part in the event and on demand online.

The Lucca Film Festival, coordinated by Nicola Borrelli, is one of the key events organized and sponsored by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca.
The event's main sponsors are Banca Generali Private Wealth Management (Paolo Tacchi) e Banca Pictet. The organization of the Lucca Film Festival has also been possible thanks to Ministero della cultura – Direzione Generale Cinema e Audiovisivo, Miur, Regione Toscana, Fondazione Sistema Toscana, Manifatture Digitali Cinema, Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca, Sofidel, Fondazione Giacomo Puccini e Puccini Museum – Casa Natale, Audi Center Terigi Tenuta del Buonamico, Naturanda, Martinelli Luce, Futuro3D, Tecno Servizi, Ristorante Giglio, Palazzo Pfanner, Teatro del Giglio, ConfCommercio Lucca e Massa Carrara, Grand Universe Lucca, Grand Universe – La residenza, Over The Real, Teatro del Giglio di Lucca, Fondazione Giacomo Puccini e Puccini Museum – Casa Natale, Casa d’arte San Lorenzo, Accademia Cinema Toscana; Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara, Istituto Luigi Boccherini e Liceo Artistico Musicale e Coreutico Augusto Passaglia, Liceo Classico N. Machiavelli, ISIS Pertini.
Thanks also to Rai Toscana, Rai Radio 3, Movieplayer.it, Film4 Life, Festival Scope, A.C.S.I. Associazione Centri Sportivi Italiani, Federazione Italiana Teatro Amatori (FITA), Trenitalia, Fic, Uicc, Cinit, Ucca, Arci, Fedic, Corte Tripoli, Circolo del Cinema di Lucca, Cineforum Ezechiele 25:17, Cinema Centrale, Astra e Moderno, Cinema Arsenale, Octocom, Università di Pisa, Università degli Studi Firenze, Fondazione Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, Pisa al Cinema, Cinema Arsenale, Cineteca Bologna, Cineteca Nazionale, Istituto Musicale Luigi Boccherini, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Italia, Associazione Donne all’Ultimo Grido, , SPAM! Rete per le arti contemporanee, Lucca Comics & Games, Photolux Festival, Lucca Classica Music Festival.

Come to the Lucca Film Festival and experience a full 360° immersion in both the cinema and the heart of Tuscany.

Premios en Metálico: 5,000€

AWARDS

Best Short Film Jury Prize: 1000 euros

Best Feature Film Jury Prize: 3000 euros

LFF For Future Best Short Film Prize: 1000 euros

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE-length FILM COMPETITON

RULES AND REGULATIONS:

The final deadline for all submissions is July 15, 2026.

No more than one film per artist will be selected; however, each artist is permitted to submit more than one film.

The feature-length films shall last no less than 60 minutes.

The films shall be premieres in Italy. The application will be rejected if the film is available on the Internet, has been broadcasted, or has already been presented in an Italian film festival preceding the 2026 Lucca Film Festival.

Feature-length films must not have been screened or distributed, either in Italy or abroad, before January 1, 2026.

Unfinished films will not be accepted: all entries must be complete in their entirety.

If the film is not in Italian or subtitled in Italian, it is mandatory to send - in addition to your submission, a copy of the dialogues in english. This is to enable the subtitling of all films.

Only private and/or password-protected online screeners are accepted for the preview copy. Public and other type of screeners will not be considered.

Press kit and advertising materials are not mandatory, but are recommended.

Only DCP or screening copies will be accepted.

Should your film be accepted in the Lucca Film Festival 2026, you grant LFF the right to use an excerpt from any film submitted and accepted for exhibition at the Festival for promotional purposes.

All accepted films will be screened once during the festival, with the option of an encore screening for select films/shorts blocks. The selected movies will also be available online on demand during the period of festival. All scheduling is purely at the discretion of the LFF staff. LFF pays only for the return shipment of the DCPs. The Lucca Film Festival DOES NOT PAY SCREENING FEES. By submitting your film, you acknowledge that the festival will not pay to present your work.
 
SUBMISSION

The entry fee for each film is 20€ (earlybird) until January 30, 30€ until June 1st (regular) and 40€ until July 15 (extended), 2026.

No refund will be given after the application has been submitted.

Once registered, the film can be withdrawn from the contest without any extra fee until July 15, 2026. After that date, the withdrawal of the film will still be possible, but only until July 26, 2026 at the latest. In this case, an extra payment of 700€ will be charged as a refund for the work made by the Festival. For no reason requests received after July 26, 2026 will be accepted.

SELECTION

The Organisation will announce the decisions of the Selection Committee to the participants by September 10, 2026, on the Festival website (www.luccafilmfestival.it).

Jury Award for the Best Feature-length Film: 3000 euro

Student Jury Award for the Best Film

Popular Jury Award for the Best Film
Marcello Petrozziello Award


AUTHORIZATION

- The application implies the acceptance of the Rules and Regulations in all its parts, the authorisation of public screenings, for which the artist will not be entitled of any royalties and fees. The signatory, with this application, is committed to ensuring the veracity and accuracy of all the required information submitted.

COPYRIGHT & LEGAL TERMS By entering your film for consideration to the 2026 Lucca Film Festival, you authorize that your work is cleared for festival exhibition and accept full legal responsibility for the intellectual property therein. The submitter and all filmmakers associated with the project shall indemnify and hold harmless the Lucca Film Festival, Associazione Vi(s)ta Nova and any representative or affiliates from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the entered screening videos.

For any information, please email featurefilmcompetition@luccafilmfestival.it

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INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION CALL FOR ENTRIES

- The recruitment will be open until July 15, 2026.

- Each film maker may not enroll more than 4 works and in any case no more than one work each.

- Short films should not last more than 29 minutes.

- Short films, except for those which were never screened and distributed (in Italy and/or internationally), shall not date back to years prior to 2026.

- If the film is neither spoken nor Italian subtitled, it is required to send by (papery or digital) attachment an english transcription of the dialogues, in such a way as to allow the film subtitling.

ENTRY

The Lucca Film Festival 2026 Edition will see the confirmation of an entry fee to the International Short Film Competition.

- The entry fee amounts to: 10 euros until january 15; 15 euros until june 14; 20 euros until the end of the call for entries

- Payment through the Festhome platform.

SELECTING WINNERS
The organization is undertaken to communicate the selection committee’s decisions to the participants, via notice on the Festival’s website and/or Facebook official Festival's page ( www.luccafilmfestival.it,https://www.facebook.com/luccafilmfest/ ), by September 10th, 2026.

The winner of the competition will receive a prize of €1,000.

For any information, please email competition@luccafilmfestival.it

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LUCCA FILM FESTIVAL FOR FUTURE – SHORT FILM COMPETITION

- The selection is open until July 15, 2026.

- Each author can submit up to 4 works, but only one work per author will be selected.

- Short films must not exceed 29 minutes.

- Submitted short films must have been made no earlier than 2024.

- Submitted short films must address the following themes: green, environmental protection, socially relevant issues, and new generations.

- The film director must be no older than 35 years old.

- Only online private screeners with passwords will be accepted for preview copies. Public or other types of screeners will not be considered.
Registration can be done through the Festhome portal.

- If the short film is not spoken or subtitled in Italian, it is mandatory to attach (paper or digital) a copy of the dialogues in english for subtitling purposes.
- By participating in the international competition LUCCA FILM FESTIVAL FOR FUTURE, the author of the work authorizes Sofidel S.p.A., and its assignees, completely free of charge, to use and/or disseminate and/or publish the work, both for exhibition and advertising and/or dissemination and/or promotional purposes, through any means of communication and dissemination, including but not limited to web channels, catalogs, corporate communication prints and/or any other means of dissemination, known today or developed in the future, including the Internet or other telematic networks, without any limitation, even temporal, either entirely or partially, with the broadest possible right to use even only parts of the work, without altering its content.
The author of the work declares that he/she has, in fact, nothing to claim against Sofidel S.p.A. and/or its assignees, for any reason whatsoever, in connection with the use by Sofidel S.p.A. and/or its assignees of the work.
The author of the work declares and warrants that the work does not violate any intellectual property rights and/or other rights of third parties.
The author of the work shall indemnify and reimburse Sofidel S.p.A., and its assignees, for all costs (including legal expenses), expenses, damages, or other losses incurred or suffered by Sofidel S.p.A., and its assignees, or actions or proceedings brought against Sofidel S.p.A., and its assignees as a result of any actual or alleged infringement of third-party intellectual property rights claimed on the work itself.

ENTRY
The 2026 edition of the Lucca Film Festival involves a registration fee for the international short film competition.
- The registration fee amounts to: 10 euros for 1 short film, 15 euros for two short films, 25 euros for three short films, 30 euros for four short films.
- Payment can be made by bank transfer to MONTE DEI PASCHI DI SIENA IBAN: IT 45 O 01030 13710 000000117654
Or via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/luccafilmfestival
In both cases, it is mandatory to specify the reason "Registration for LFF For Future Competition".
- The following registration form must be completed for each film you want to submit and sent together with the films themselves by email.

SELECTING WINNERS

The organization undertakes to announce the decisions of the selection committee by September 10th, 2026, through communication on the website and other official channels of the festival (www.luccafilmfestival.it, www.facebook.com/luccafilmfest).

The winner of the competition will receive a prize of €1,000.

For any information, the reference email is future@luccafilmfestival.it