45th Paladino D’oro Sportfilmfestival (45)

Festival start: 01 December 2025      Festival end: 06 December 2025

The Paladino d'Oro Sport Film Festival is the oldest in the world of sports cinema (1979) promotes the diffusion of sports films and videos, the festival is an international showcase for the large distributions of world cinema, which can meet the productions during Sports Film Week.

The Paladino d’oro is awarded by the Academy of Sports Cinema, is composed of illustrious personalities from cinema, journalism and sport.

Here are the prizes awarded in each edition. Four main categories: best Olympic film, best Paralympic film, best football film and best E-Sport film. The awarded sections are for best feature film, best short film, best documentary, best fiction, best direction, best actor, best sports protagonist, best editing, best screenplay, best sound, films are also awarded with special prizes: Distributor award, social award, jury award, Other Cinema award (non-sporting subject) and the “School & University” award. All the films that have been selected will receive an participation plaque during the final ceremony of the festival.

Award: Paladino d'oro to:

The Award Commission will assign the nominations among the selected films for the following categories:

Best Sport Film
Best Production
Best Feature Film
Best Short Film
Best Documentary
Best Fiction
Best Paralympic Film
Best Football Film
Best E-Sport Film
Best Olympic Film
Best AI Sport Film
Best Director
Best Screenplay
Best Picture
Best Editor
Best Sound-mixing
Best Leading Role
Best School Film
Best University Film
and other Special Award

44° Paladino d’Oro SportFilmFestival – Regulation/Regolamento

Art. 1 – ORGANIZERS
The Paladino d’oro Sport Film Festival (SFF) is organized by Toros Centro di Comunicazione Visiva, that nominated yearly a Movie Commission to select the best films focused on sports. The Festival is directed by Roberto Oddo.

Art. 2 – PURPOSE
The SFF wants to promote the values of sport (respect for rules, fair play, overcoming limits, team play, etc.) through the best films all over the world that are focused on sports.

The “SFF promotes the diffusion of sport films that, in different ways, contribute to the development of artistic and cultural trends in the cinema business. The goal is to promote the best quality in sports films; to stimulate, thanks to the mass media and the partnership with schools and universities, the interest in sport and cinema, fostering didactic-cultural meetings.

Art. 3 – WHEN AND WHERE (Sport Movie Week)
The 44st Paladino d’oro SFF it will take in PALERMO FROM 1 to 6 DECEMBER 2025. The festival program includes film screening, meetings with productions, conference and awards ceremony. The SFF ends with the awards ceremony (Grand Gala 6 december 2025). During the Grand Gala the prize named “PALADINO D’ORO” will be assigned to the best films in competition; the direction can be assign some special “PALADINO D’ORO” to the most important figures of movie and sports.

Art. 4 - ELIGIBILITY
All films produced between 2021 and 2025 with sports or non-sports subjects, already published, distributed or previewed, can participate in the festival. Films that have already participated in the SFF are excluded.

The previews of films released in 2026 will be included in the screening programme;

Art. 5 – REGISTRATION
The registration is active between the December, 2024, the registration deadline to June 30th, 2025.

If by June 30th, 2025, the registered productions do not comply with all the requests of the organization, they will be automatically excluded. To complete the registration, after completing the online form, producers must send the following material no later than June 2025 to: production@sportfilmfestival.it:

– 1 copy of the movie file in HD MP4, to download, with subtitled in Italian;
– a 2minute file of the trailer in MP4, to download, with subtitled in Italian;
– a summary (synopsis) of the film in Italian and English.
– a bio film of the director and / or the main actors, in Italian and English;
– a good resolution poster
– The payment of 50 euros for the secretarial expenses contribution by bank transfer, to:
TOROS CCV – Via Olivella, 32 – 90100 Palermo – IBAN: IT60X0306909606100000164071.
Or with paypal to robertooddo9@gmail.com.

If the film’s documentation is incomprehensible or incomplete, the film will be excluded from the SFF.

Art. 6 – SELECTION
The Sports Cinema Academy, has foreseen a first selection among all the films entered, if in order with the registration (art. 5), All selected films are invited to the festival. The second selection requires confirmation of participation of the productions in the festival by 30 September 2025. In October the sports cinema academy will assign the nominations which will give the right to the screening of the nominated films, which requires the mandatory presence of at least one representative of the production at the awards ceremony (art. 10), productions must confirm the presence of a representative by 30 September 2025.

Art. 7 - AWARDS
The Golden Paladin is awarded by the Sports Cinema Academy, made up of illustrious personalities cinema, journalism and sport. Here are the prizes awarded in each edition. Four main categories:

Best Sport Film, Best Olympic Film, Best Paralympic Film, Best Football Film, Best Motor Film, AI Film Awards and Best E-Sport Film.

The awarded sections are for:

Best feature film (without time limits);
Best short film (max 60 minutes);
Best documentary, Best fiction, Best direction, Best actor, Best sports protagonist, Best editing, Best screenplay, Best sound;

Films are also awarded with special prizes:

Best Film distributor, Social Award for the Best Trailer , The "Other Cinema" (non-sporting subject) and the "School & University".

All selected films will receive a partecipation award plaque.

Art. 7 – SOCIAL AWARD
The “Social Award” (Best Trailer) is the only “Paladino d’Oro” awarded by the public. All the trailers of the films selected by the Management will be published on the official website and on the official social pages of the Festival. The winning trailer will be the one with the most views on YouTube, the final total of all views will be counted on 30th October , 2025, views obtained after this date will not be valid. Here are the links of the official social pages:
https://www.facebook.com/sportfilmfestival
https://www.youtube.com/c/SFFSPORTFILMFESTIVAL/featured
https://www.instagram.com/sportfilmfestival/channel/

Art. 8 – SCREENING OF CANDIDATE FILMS
All selected films are invited to participate in the final ceremony of the festival (GranGalà) during which the nominations and winners will be presented. Only films that will be presented at the festival with at least one production representative at the awards ceremony will be screened at the festival. Films not represented at the festival during the ceremony will not be screened.

Art. 9 – UTILIZATION OF PARTICIPATING FILMS AND COPYRIGHTS
The films will be used by the festival exclusively for cultural and promotional purposes of the SFF, before, during and after the SFF, also in collaboration with public bodies, private companies, media, schools, universities, etc. They cannot be supplied for other uses without express authorization from the manufacturer. Anyone who registers their film at the Festival declares ownership pursuant to these Regulations and, by signing the Regulations, authorizes:

the screening of the film during the festival (means that the festival is not subject to recognizing any rights or other compensation to the ownership of the film);
viewing of the film is granted to judges, delegates, accredited journalists, observers, and the public participating in the festival. Toros CCV is granted, by the ownership of the film, the deposit, in the SFF archive, of copies of the film for the sole purposes of study, documentation and institutional and promotional activities.

Participants who have entered their film will be directly responsible for any requests or claims for reimbursement from third parties, as they have entered their films into the SFF. TOROS CCV reserves the right to use the names of Festival participants for its promotional activities.

Art. 10 – GENERAL RULES
The productions that will not be present at the final ceremony will not be entitled to any prize. Any disputes and anything not covered by this regulation will be governed exclusively by Italian law. The final decisions are the responsibility of the Festival management. For any complaint relating to the meaning of the articles of these Regulations, only the original text in Italian of the Regulations published on the official website of the Paladino d'Oro Sport Film Festival will be the basis for any dispute.

Art. 11 – UPDATES
The TOROS CCV reserve the right to make decisions on matters not specified herein. The CCV can change this Regulation at any time and without notice.