Spi Stories | Bolle. Connessi. Sconnessi. Disconnessi (14)

Festival start: 23 May 2026      Festival end: 07 June 2026

The Spi Stories Short Film Festival reaches its fourteenth edition. The competition, created by the publisher LiberEtà and the CGIL Pensioners Union, has chosen the title "Chissà se fuori..." ("I wonder if out there...") for this edition. You can participate to the competition by creating a video with a maximum length of eleven minutes, released in 2025. The Spi Stories Short Film Festival reaches its fourteenth edition. Created by the publishing house LiberEtà and the CGIL Union of Retirees, this year’s competition takes on the title “I Wonder If Out There… Telling Stories of Solitude, Rediscovering Community.”

This edition focuses on solitude—whether chosen or endured—on community, and on the ties that hold us together. There are moments when each of us feels vulnerable. Not only when the body slows down, but when something cracks in our connection with others: when our voice no longer finds an answer, when the world seems to move forward without us.

Solitude and fragility are not exceptions; they are part of the human condition. They cross generations, hide behind lives that look busy and fulfilled, and reveal a fundamental need we all share: to be seen, heard, acknowledged.

“I Wonder If Out There…” was born to tell these stories. To give shape and voice to what often remains in the shadows—or is mistakenly thought to belong only to certain people: the sick, the elderly, those living on the margins. But solitude has many faces, and fragility does not belong to one stage of life. There are young forms of fragility—lives that struggle to find a place in the world. There are collective solitudes that inhabit crowded cities. There are lives full of noise but empty of presence.

The competition invites filmmakers to explore that subtle space between the “inside” and the “outside”: those who remain within the boundaries of community, those who are pushed out, those who step outside in search of air, those who get lost, and those who find their way again thanks to a gesture, a word, a glance.
“Outside” is not only what separates us—it can also be what reconnects us. Outside is the square, the street, the group, the voice calling our name. Outside is the threshold where encounters can begin again.

Fragility is not a weakness but a possibility. Those who acknowledge their own fragility are already “outside” a world that demands strength and self-sufficiency at all costs. They choose to remain open, to welcome others, to build relationships. In this sense, fragility becomes a political act: it forces us to rethink how we live together, how much room we give to care, listening, and solidarity.

“I Wonder If Out There…” does not ask for pity, but for awareness. It calls on participants to tell—through any form of visual language—the story of fragile lives that endure, of solitude seeking a passage, of the need for community that runs through our everyday lives. It is an invitation to open the door, to look at what lies outside—and perhaps also at who we are leaving outside.

Participants can enter the competition with a video of up to eleven minutes, produced after January 2025.

Cash Prizes: 3,000€

1° 3.000€
2° voucher
3° voucher

The first prize will receive €3.000, while the second and third place winners will be awarded technology vouchers.

- The selection is open until February 15, 2026

- The duration of the short films should not exceed eleven minutes.

- Short films should be released in 2025.

- If the proposed short film is inspired by a work/ product already existing in the multimedia world, directors are obliged to cite the work they have used as reference and inspiration.

- The work must be accompanied by: name, surname, address and brief profile of the author, and synopsis. Contact details must be sent by mail to multimedia@libereta.it (indicated in the subject line by the heading "Spi Stories 2026") no later than 15th February 2026.

- Short films can also be uploaded to the Festhome platform.

- The works will first be viewed by a jury composed of experts, representatives of the Spi Cgil and LiberEtà. A technical jury will later select the three works that are considered the best representation of the theme of the competition.

- The three finalists will be announced during the day dedicated to the LiberEtà Prize, on a date to be defined, but no later than December 2026. The author of the winning piece of work will receive a prize of three thousand euros; the second and third placed entries will receive a technology voucher.

- LiberEtà and the organizers of the competition reserve the right to promote the programming of short films at the Spi Cgil facilities and in places, and in the manner deemed appropriate by the publishing house. Prior notice will given, if this occurs.

- Authors of any participating entry must acknowledge this right of the organizers. Also, by submitting entries, they are agreeing for their work to be released for television and web uses, as short films, for web publication and for initiatives that we, our subscribers and anyone related to the Union of Italian pensioners of the CGIL will want to organize live in the different regions of Italy.

- The organizers will inform the participants of the date and place of the programming of the works and the awarding of the prizes.

- For all communications and information write to: multimedia@libereta.it

- COMPLETE REGULATION: https://www.libereta.it/spi-stories-2026