INTRODUCTION

The Giffoni Film Festival is organised by the “Ente Autonomo Giffoni Experience”, a non-profit association that was established in 1973. It is co-financed by the Campania Regional Government and the Italian Ministry of Culture, and supported by the Municipality of Giffoni Valle Piana. Other associations, organizations, institutions and private sponsors also support the Festival.

GOALS

For over 56 years the Festival has been acting as a sounding board for cinema production devoted to children and young people. It represents the ideal place for vivacious interaction among filmmakers, producers and distributors and also establishes a bridge between the industry production universe and its target audience. The Festival also aims at promoting the knowledge and circulation of products of high artistic value, capable of contributing to the education and cultural growth of a mature critical awareness in young people.

1. OFFICIAL SECTIONS

1.1 Elements +3 – competitive section for short animation movies.

1.2 Elements +6 – competitive section for feature length films and short films (fiction and animation).

1.3 Elements +10 – competitive section for feature length films and short films (fiction and animation).

1.4 Generator +13 – competitive section for feature length films (fiction and animation).

1.5 Generator +15 – competitive section for feature length films (fiction and animation).

1.6 Generator +18 – competitive section for feature films revolving around childhood but targeting older audience.

1.7 GEX Doc – competitive section for documentaries (feature length films only) on childhood and adolescence but targeting older audience.

1.8 Parental Experience – an international contest for short films revolving around childhood but targeting older audience.

Short films must not run for more than 30′. Feature length films must run for at least 60′.

Preferred formats are the following: DCP, File H264HD or QuickTime ProRes.

2. JURIES AND AWARDS

  • As for the Elements competitive sections, the Jury is composed of children (Elements +6 and +10 – 1.000 circa per section; Elements +3 – 250 circa), who will award the Gryphon Award to the best feature film and to the best short film.
  • As for the Generator competitive sections, the International Jury is composed of teenagers from all over the world (Generator +13 and +15 – 600 circa per section; Generator +18 – 250 circa), who will award the Gryphon Award to the best feature film.
  • The GEX DOC Jury consists of a general audience, which will award the Gryphon Award to the best documentary.
  • The Parental Experience Jury is composed of parents and filmgoers, who will award the Gryphon Award to the best short film.
  • The decision of the Juries are unquestionable.

3.REGISTRATION PROCEDURE

3.1 Terms and conditions for admission to the selection. Only films produced from January 2025 or released from June 2025 will be considered for selection. Priority will be given to unreleased films.

ONLY FOR FEATURE LENGTH FILMS: the film presentation at any other italian film festival, its theatriCAL RELEASE or broadcasting on television/internet/vod in italy will RESULT IN ITS EXCLUSION from the giffoni film festival.

The deadline for submitting files or links in order to be considered for the pre-selection is May 11th, 2026.

Shorts must be mandatorily submitted through the platform on our website www.giffonifi.it (FilmFreeway). For any further information please contact a.grimaldi@giffoni.it

3.2 Selection terms. The selection will take place under the unquestionable judgement of the Festival Artistic Management who will communicate the results exclusively to the production and distribution companies of the films selected, no later than June 15th, 2026.

3.3 Materials. Upon receiving official notification of the film’s admission to the competition, absolute priority must be given to the delivery of the following materials:

  • Online screener of the film, original version with English Subtitles (no subtitles are requested for Italian Films)
  • This file shall be used for Italian subtitling if necessary, therefore screeners with watermarks are allowed.
  • Entry form (to be completed online on FilmFreeway)
  • Biography, filmography and photo of the Director (by e-mail)
  • Director’s notes on the film (by e-mail)
  • Complete list of subtitles in English in srt format (by e-mail)
  • Photos from the film (by e-mail, wetransfer, Google drive or downloadable link)
  • Poster and Brochures
  • Trailer no longer than 2 minutes (by ftp or wetransfer). In order to promote the film in competition, it is essential that the production company give authorisation for a maximum of 2’ (max. 30” for short films) of scenes taken from the film to be broadcast on national and international television.

Image/Video/Audio

Participants declare that they are the owners of -or that they have legitimate rights to use- all images, videos, audio recordings, and any other material related to the film (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Materials”) provided or otherwise transmitted to the Giffoni Film Festival, guaranteeing that such Materials do not violate the rights of third parties, including copyrights, related rights, image rights, or other personality rights.

Participants grant the Giffoni Film Festival (stating that they have the right to do so) the non-exclusive right, unlimited in time and space and free of charge, to use, publish, transmit, distribute, reproduce, adapt, and communicate to the public the aforementioned Materials, in whole or in part, for purposes strictly related to the film festival and its promotion, through any means or platform (including, but not limited to: catalogs, programs, websites, apps, social media channels, digital platforms, TV networks, media partners, streaming services, promotional and institutional materials).

All participants also agree that any photo, audio, or video recordings, as well as any other documentation linked to their participation in the Festival, may be freely used by the organization for promotional and institutional purposes, including when sponsors or commercial partners are present.

Participants expressly exempt the Giffoni Film Festival organization and any party associated with it or appointed by it from any liability, obligation, or claim that may be raised by third parties in relation to the use of the aforementioned Materials or to any violation of rights by the participants.

3.4 Official logo (Laurel), promotion

By accepting the Festival’s invitation of a film to take part in the event the submitter undertakes to display the GFF official laurel, provided by the organization, on all advertising materials for the promotion of the film (posters, trailers, opening credits, official website, etc.), as well as on the copies that will be used for the screenings at the Festival and will be circulating in cinemas after the film release. In case the logos do not appear on the materials, the organization is entitled to send a reminder letter for their insertion, even after the festival days.

The logos can be downloaded at the following LINK

3.5 FILES for the official screening (both feature films and short films) must be sent (via Ftp/Aspera link/Dropbox, etc.) no later than 7 days before the beginning of the Festival. Please don’t use Google Drive to send the copy for the film screenings.

  • All the films in competition will be screened in their original language with the addition of electronic subtitles (with the exception of the Elements +3 and Elements +6 sections, for which a voice-over mode will be adopted).
  • Films copies must be subtitled in English if coming from non-English speaking countries.
  • The official copy must be identical to the copy submitted for the pre-selection.
  • In case of DCPs, please consider the time needed to upload them and run tests.

In case of encrypted DCPs, a valid KDM must be sent for the whole duration of the Festival.

4. COSTS AND COMMITMENTS

  • To submit a film to the Festival, a fee must be paid. To learn the costs, please see the fee for each section on FilmFreeway.

Once paid, the submission fee is non-refundable in any case.

  • All shipment expenses for the films selected for the competition (apart from the promotional materials), as well as those incurred for their return to their country of origin, will be covered by the GFF only if the films come from the production/distribution companies and are returned there. In case the film copy is shipped from/to another Festival, we shall cover the cost of one track only.
  • Travel Insurance. The shipping of the copies to and from Giffoni is to be covered by the participants. The Festival guarantees insurance coverage for the period the films are in storage at the Festival venues. In any case, the insurance value shall not exceed the lab cost of a standard copy, according to the rates in force in Italy.
  • The Giffoni Film Festival will save a digital copy in its Historical Archive, which contains all the films presented in the Festival sections. This copy will be used exclusively for internal use (programmers and collaborators) and for study and storage purposes, with the exclusion of any commercial use.

5. PARTICIPATION OF FILM DELEGATIONS

5.1 TRAVELLING EXPENSES. The Giffoni Film Festival will cover the cost of economy class flight tickets exclusively for the Directors of the feature films in competition.

5.2 HOSPITALITY EXPENSES:

  • Hospitality (hotel accommodation, breakfast and dinners) is offered to the Directors of each feature film in all the competitive sections (hospitality goes from the day before the film screening to the day after the Award Ceremony).
  • Hospitality (hotel accommodation, breakfast and dinners) for a maximum of 2 nights is offered to the Directors of the short films in all the competitive sections.

N.B. The Production and Distribution Companies of the films selected are invited to support the participation of their films at the GFF by encouraging the attendance of the leading actors and/or producers, to whom we will be happy to offer accommodation (hotel, breakfast and dinners).

6. FINAL PROVISIONS

  • Admission to one of the GFF competitive sections entails unconditional acceptance of the Festival regulations. It is the responsibility of producers, distributors or others submitting a film to ensure that they are legitimately authorized to submit said film to the GFF.
  • These regulations have been written both in Italian and English. If problems of interpretation should arise, the Italian version shall prevail.
  • The GFF management has the right to settle all cases not provided for in these regulations, as well as to waive these regulations in special and justified cases.
  • Any dispute shall be settled by the Court of Salerno.

Giffoni, November 2025