CIAQ · 1ST EDITION · 17—20 SEPTEMBER 2026
The first edition of the CIAQ received 79 submissions via FilmFreeway: 43 short films, 23 documentaries and 13 feature films. The published catalogue takes into account festival withdrawals and updates. In addition to the entries Short history of a wall e Anatomy of a Great Dream, included at the festival's request.
The catalogue currently includes 78 works44 short films, 21 documentaries and 13 feature films, with their stories and the people who made them.
This archive preserves the works received and the two additions to the festival, taking withdrawals and updates into account. It does not coincide with the selection of screenings for the first edition, held in L'Aquila from 17 to 20 September 2026.
The tabs are in alphabetical order within each category. Unavailable information has not been reconstructed.
Director Emanuela Mascherini
Year 2024 Country Italy Duration 15 mins
For Alba, every encounter reawakens fears linked to a past experience. Confronting someone who wants to cure her through their own pain highlights a difficult truth: her journey to emerge once more must begin with herself.
Production STETI PRODUZIONI
Screenplay Emanuela Mascherini
Cast Emanuela Mascherini, Simone Faucci, Francesco Grifoni
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Luigi Sacco
Year 2026 Duration 21 mins 39 secs
Bianca is looking for a new artistic project after the success of her first video installation. The story of Simin, her young Iranian flatmate, offers her an opportunity for a relaunch and raises questions about the relationship between art and other people's lives.
Production Sergio Di Censo
Screenplay Luigi Sacco
Cast George Li Tourniaire
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: a useless heart
Director Mattia de Gennaro
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 33 min 12 s Language Italian
Following her father's arrest for mafia association, Sam seeks refuge from the fuss at an aunt's house. But the man's escape also disrupts her relationship with her social media followers, forcing her to choose what to defend.
Production Mattia de Gennaro
Screenplay Mattia de Gennaro
Cast Alessandra Quacquarelli, Dino La Cecilia, Fabio Maggio, Isabella Ragno, Umberto Jr Contini, Gioele La Torre, Francesco Saverio Di Mola
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: A heart of velvet
Director SCHIAVONI MASSIMO
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 7 min 40 s Language English, Italian
Paper, glue, thread and red velvet give shape to an imagined heart. The material construction becomes a reflection on generosity, respect and the capacity to love: the qualities that make us human, beyond all appearances.
Production ITALIANVIDEOART
Screenplay SCHIAVONI MASSIMO
Cast SCHIAVONI MASSIMO, SCHIAVONI EURO, CAPPELLETTI ANNA, CAPPELLETTI DANIELE
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Franco Carlisi
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 29 mins ago Language Italian
Bella's disappearance forces her mother to rethink her relationship with her daughter and her own identity. In a dialogue between present and past, the film explores a fracture capable of changing the meaning of a whole lifetime.
Production Giacomo Fattori
Screenplay Franco Carlisi
Cast Rosi Mandracchia, Claudia Palermo, Creola Di Lucia, Ignazio Marchese, Antonio Licata
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director MERI DISHNICA
Year 2024 Country Albania, Italy Duration 15 mins Language Italian
Sol’s life revolves around daily rituals and video calls with Fred, her partner who lives on the other side of the world. Within the bubble of a long-distance relationship, the desire to meet clashes with an endless-seeming wait.
Production GIANNI RUSSO
Screenplay MERI DISHNICA
Cast VALERIA ZAZZARETTA, BARNABA BONAFACCIA, MARGARITA XHEPA
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director ALBERTA VITI
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 14 min 28 s Language Italian
Lavinia is fifteen years old and lives in a house where she struggles to feel welcome. Inside herself she recognises Max: a search for identity that runs through silences, family relationships and the need to be heard.
Production Laura Piattella
Screenplay Laura Piattella, Alberta Viti
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: Different speeds
Director Alessio Fugazzotto
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 18 min 06 s Language Italian
The train journey becomes a metaphor for choices, encounters and regrets. As the miles tick by, the bond between two passengers can change the future or dissolve at the next station.
Production Alessio Fugazzotto
Screenplay Alessio Fugazzotto, Federica Pace, Sergio Barone
Cast Laura Patanè, Alessio Fugazzotto
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Michele D'Anca
Year 2024 Country Italy Duration 19 min 52 s Language Italian
Two Alarm Phone volunteers receive a distress call from the central Mediterranean. On the other end of the line, a man is on a sinking rubber dinghy. The short follows the tension of those minutes and the attempt not to break contact.
Production Gianni Russo, Filippo Montalto, Gabriele Costa
Screenplay Michele D'Anca
Cast Michele D'Anca, Nina Pons
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: Don't cry
Director Alessandro Grassi
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 19 min 03 s Language Italian
Alma is alone with her newborn baby in an isolated house when some men break in, looking for something. Hidden in the shadows, she tries to protect the baby: every noise risks giving away their whereabouts.
Production Alessandro Grassi
Screenplay Alessandro Grassi
Cast Francesca La Scala, Claudio Di Loreto, Silvio Ambrogioni, Walter Del Greco, Francesco de Laurentiis
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: Two more minutes
Director Paolo Secondino
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 14 min 24 s Language Italian
The mayor of Avezzano has to evacuate two thousand residents for the defusing of a bomb. The meeting with Anna, an elderly woman with Alzheimer's who does not want to leave her home, turns the emergency into an unexpected human encounter.
Production Municipality of Avezzano Avezzano, Dam Academy Rome
Screenplay Paola Gullo, Beatrice Meade, Corrado Oddi, Severino Iuliano, Vittorio Tucceri
Cast Corrado Oddi, Patrizia Loreti, Maxi Gigliucci, Paola Sebastiani, Marcella Jo Pirillo
Creative supervision Aldo Iuliano
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: The Fantastic 4x2
Director Ermete Labbadia
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 17 mins ago Language Italian
Four strangers, each endowed with a superpower, are sent to a tiny village without knowing why.
Production Ermete Labbadia
Screenplay Ermete Labbadia
Cast Alessandra Masi, Azzurra Martino, Nicola Trambusti, Giuseppe Pestillo, Noemi Guglietta, Fulvia Paolella, Luca Verardi, Anna Fasolo, Chiara Vingione
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Iole Ionno
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 20 mins Language Italian
Livia visits her mother Irene to celebrate her birthday. The meeting brings an unresolved past to the surface and becomes, in memory, the starting point from which to try to imagine a new bond.
Production Iole Ionno
Screenplay Alessandro Tomassi
Cast Morena Rastelli, Chiara Ghiringhelli
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director NIKOLA BRUNELLI
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 9 min 35 s Language Italian
Teachers summon Lucia's mother: the girl's ideas are turning the middle school upside down. They are being suggested to her by an unlikely imaginary friend, Karl Marx, in a short film that meets rebellion with irony.
Production I don't know, madness
Screenplay EMANUELE MOCHI, NIKOLA BRUNELLI
Cast ETTORE BUDANO, NICOLE CENTOMANI, NIKOLA BRUNELLI, ANDREA SALERNO, VERONICA NASPI, BARBARA COACCI, BORIS CUGNOLI, MARCO MONDAINI, LUIGI SOCCI
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Emanuele Sante Granata
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 2 min 55 s
Synopsis not available.
Production Emanuele Sante Granata, Giulia Baldi
Screenplay Emanuele Sante Granata, Giulia Baldi
Cast Elisa Marinoni, Giulio Pierotti
Synopsis not available in the provided materials.
Director Antonio Maria Castaldo, Gianluca Grazini
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 13 min · Language Italian
Abruzzo, April 2009. Alberto, a firefighter, takes part in the rescue operations following the earthquake. The search through the rubble forces him to confront a trauma from his own past as well, in a tale of silences and still-open wounds.
Production Giampietro Preziosa, Marco Simon Puccioni
Screenplay Antonio Maria Castaldo, Gianluca Grazini, Marco Signoretti
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: In the Eyes of a Child
Director Marco Ferrara
Year 2023 Country Italy Duration 17 min 17 s Language Italian
The young photographer Ivan recognises the house where he grew up. That place brings poverty, bullying and isolation back to the surface, along with regret for a loved one: a journey back into memory through the eyes of someone who has grown up.
Production Marco Ferrara
Screenplay Marco Ferrara
Cast Francesco Puglisi, Angelo Cutispoto, Giovanbattista Spina, Mariachiara Pelligra, Sebastiano Anastasi, Rosaria Ventura, Giovanni Saia, Antonella Barbera, Emilio Salvatore Valvo
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: Just because I feel sorry
Director Matteo Balsamo
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 7 min 04 s Language Italian
Viola, seventeen years old, agrees to see her ex-boyfriend for a final drive. The conversation turns into a confrontation marked by jealousy and control, until asking to get out becomes the breaking point.
Production Paolo Fosso, Maria Chiara Montagnari
Screenplay Diletta Fosso
Cast Alessio Pollastrini, Diletta Fosso
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Roberto Ragazzini
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 13 mins 53 secs Language Italian
A lonely woman finds comfort in her phone's artificial intelligence as her friends and husband drift away. The need to be heard turns into an increasingly disturbing addiction.
Production Roberto Ragazzini
Screenplay Roberto Ragazzini
Cast Sabina Cappello, Miriam Protasi
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Alex Romanello
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 29 mins ago Language Italian
Alex is introverted, loves cinema and struggles to understand the world around him. Amid disappointed friendships and bullying, a mysterious girl becomes his point of reference on a journey of growth, suffering and self-discovery.
Production Matteo Rosarelli, Alex Romanello, Elisabetta Cancelli
Screenplay Alex Romanello, Matteo Rosarelli
Cast Simone Santoro, Liuba Caraja, Juraj Giorgio Valachovic, Christian Bessi, Angelo Misseri, Saša Šižgoric
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Elena Coletta
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 12 mins 19 secs Language Italian
An inspector interrogates a young man connected to the disappearance of a fourteen-year-old girl. Amid controlled threats and subtle manipulations, the room becomes the arena for a psychological confrontation where even silence weighs heavy.
Screenplay Elena Coletta
Cast Lorenzo Lancellotti, Stefano Macciocca
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Lorenzo Perilli
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 11 min 33 s Language Italian
Riccardo, a shy and awkward eighteen-year-old, follows his friend Giulio to the home of some acquaintances. There he meets Simone, the host: a sudden attraction sweeps through the afternoon and his uncertainties.
Production Lorenzo Perilli
Screenplay Lorenzo Perilli
Cast Rocco Calvario, Simone Guglielmi, Francesco De Castro, Nikita Barbagli
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Sara Pavia
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 3 min 48 s Language Without dialogue
Two hands perform the actions of a day inside a house. Gestures, images and sounds repeat and accelerate, transforming the familiarity of everyday life into a progressive feeling of exasperation.
Production Sara Pavia
Screenplay Sara Pavia
Cast Carmen Mafrici
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Giovanni Guidelli
Year 2024 Country Italy Duration 27 mins 16 secs
Tuscany, 1963. On her first day at a criminal asylum, a young nurse listens to the head nurse's story. The tale of a recently discharged patient reopens an unsettling story that began in 1940.
Screenplay Giovanni Guidelli
Cast Giovanni Guidelli, Giorgio Cantarini, Barbara Enrichi, Giulia Lippi, Francesca Vignocchi, Francesco Ciampi
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Carmelo Segreto
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 25 mins Language Italian
Two years after a brief affair, Tommaso and Luna accidentally cross paths at a farmhouse on a late summer night. She studies whales in Patagonia, he makes a living from music: the time that has passed has not erased their bond.
Production Carmelo Segreto
Screenplay Sara Scibilia, Paola Mammini
Cast Lorenzo Adorni, Lia Grieco
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: Out of sync
Director Camilla Fosso
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 12 min 40 s Language Italian
Camilla is thirteen years old and is recording videos for her dissertation. Little by little, she recounts her anxiety, isolation and bullying, finding in front of the lens the words for a first, fragile step towards her mother and the world outside her room.
Production Paolo Fosso
Screenplay Camilla Fosso
Cast Camilla Fosso
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Work added to the catalogue upon the festival's request
Director Federico Braconi
Format Short film Genre Documentary Year 2024 Country Italy Duration 18 mins
A mural changes the face of Rome's Quartiere Africano. Through the work of Daniele Geniale and the gaze of the residents, the film explores how art can transform everyday spaces and the way we experience them together.
Production Simonfilm
Executive producer Francesco Albano
Con Daniele Geniale
Assembly Federico Braconi
Filming Alessandro Montecchi, Stefano Principessa, Chiara Stravato
Distribution Premiere Film
Editorial synopsis from the public record of the work.
Director Diego Monfredini
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 11 min Language Italian
A man enters an abandoned house to steal objects, but encounters mostly memories. The photographs transform his search into a reflection on time and identity, against the backdrop of Castel del Monte and the Gran Sasso.
Production Diego Monfredini
Screenplay Diego Monfredini, Stefano Avola
Cast Marco Marchese, Jean Francois Aloisi
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Francesca Lepore
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 13 min 30 s Language Italian
Ricciolidò is a miniature woman in a world built for proportions other than her own. Every everyday gesture becomes a challenge: a metaphor for the struggle to assert oneself in a society that does not always make room for women.
Production Francesca Lepore, Walter De Majo, Alessandro Elia
Screenplay Francesca Lepore
Cast Marta Moschetti, Vito Spagnuolo Marco Piacente Ciro Boulzagui Danilo Di Vaio, Mario Autore, Anna Mazzarella, Yesil Rusconi
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Toni Cazzato
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 18 min 42 s Language Italian
At Christmas, Simone tries to maintain daily life with Ines, his wife, who is living with early-onset Alzheimer's. Between fear of the future and shared gestures, the film portrays a bond forced to find a different balance every day.
Screenplay Toni Cazzato
Cast Daria Morelli, Luigi Cori
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: Meat Grinder Anime
Director Lorenzo De Lauretis
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 18 mins 03 secs Language Italian
In a future where a virus has wiped out all animal species and human beings are farmed as livestock, a food industry advertising executive meets a girl who has escaped from a slaughterhouse. In an attempt to reveal the truth to the world, he discovers that the most powerful enemy is the indifference of those who prefer not to know.
Production Lorenzo De Lauretis
Screenplay Lorenzo De Lauretis
Editorial translation of the synopsis provided by the author on FilmFreeway.
Director Mattia Croce
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 12 min 10 s Language Italian
A young couple return home. Amid silences and tensions, what happened that evening brings to light two different ways of dealing with grief.
Production Mattia Croce
Screenplay Mattia Croce
Cast Manuela De Franchis, Simone Parisi, Tina Agrippino
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director CARLO FUMO
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 13 min 54 s Language English, French, Italian, Spanish
Two teenagers communicate using an invented sign language and attempt to flee from a nameless land. In the dark, they cross hostile territory. A wordless fable about love, war and the consequences of indifference.
Production CARLO FUMO, EMANUELE NESPECA
Screenplay CARLO FUMO
Cast MARIA STELLA FUSCHETTO, MATTEO SCALCIONE, MARISA VUOCOLO
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: The step up
Director Lorenzo Freglio
Year 2024 Country Italy Duration 29 min 32 s Language Italian
A multimillion-dollar scratch card turns a small community upside down. But Teresa, the winner, dies shortly after the purchase, leaving her daughter Linda in the dark about where the ticket is hidden.
Production Lorenzo Freglio
Screenplay Lorenzo Freglio
Cast Greta Dordo, Sonia Caramma, Pier Sandro Freglio, Carlo Di Santo, Enzo Dino, Renato Liprandi, Lorenzo Freglio, Fabio Ardu, Gaia Iannone, Riccardo Forneris
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: The Warlord
Director Marco Bassi
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 8 min 19 s Language Italian
In a basement, two former secret service agents confront each other through memories, ambitions and regrets. The future may depend on their meeting, while a dark entity seems to be pulling the strings of events.
Production Marco Bassi
Screenplay Claudio Santoro, Antonio Focaroli
Cast Antonio Focaroli, Simone Lenzo
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: The passion flower
Director Cristian Benaglio
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 4 min 30 s Language Italian
Giovannino chooses not to turn away from a fragile and suffering creature. An animated tale in which small gestures become loyalty and resilience, against the temptation of fleeing from what hurts.
Production Luca Sorsoli
Screenplay Cristian Benaglio
Cast Alessandro Calabrese
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Andrea Recchia
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 19 min 59 s Language Italian
In 1970s Bologna, Umberto Stignani cycles through the Cirenaica district, wrapped in his many coats. Between reality and dream, the encounters of a marginal figure paint a portrait of a neighbourhood and its community.
Production Orfeo Orlando
Screenplay Marco Tarozzi
Cast Orfeo Orlando, Luigi Monfredini, Saverio Mazzoni, Alessio Scimonelli, Totò Cascio, Daniela Airoldi, Micaela Piccinini, Andrea Fantoni, Ettore Pancaldi, Alessandro Pilloni, Zeno Sbardella, Francesco David Clemente, Matteo Tarozzi, Anna Garai, Maria Pia Purificato, Claudia Grecu, Andrea Bartoli
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: The Screenwriter
Director Mark Petrasso
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 8 min 10 s Language Italian
A screenwriter constructs a noir populated by a hitman, a valuable object, a dead body and a femme fatale. The ingredients of the genre become the starting point for a game between narrative and cinema that reflects upon itself.
Production Mark Petrasso
Screenplay Mark Petrasso
Cast Lorenzo Domizi, Elena Piccardi, Adriano Davi, Lorenzo Carcasci
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: The Winner
Director Marco Ferrara
Year 2024 Country Italy Duration 19 min 59 s Language Italian
Following the death of his wife, a former footballer goes through a period marked by alcohol and depression. The decision to dedicate himself to his son leads him to leave the sport and seek a new way of being in his own life.
Production Sikania Network
Screenplay Marco Ferrara, Angela Mori
Cast Francesco Puglisi, Giorgia Nicolosi, Antonella Barbera, Mariachiara Pelligra, Sebastiano Anastasi, Desiree Santapaola, Rossella Bongiovanni, Angelo Barbarino, Tullio Mori
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Massimiliano Tedeschi
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 19 min 18 s Language Italian
Claudia lives with ALS and faces each day searching for the strength to keep going. The film follows her journey up to her request to leave for Switzerland, bringing a deeply personal decision to the screen.
Production Filmax Cultural Association
Screenplay Sergio Tedeschi
Cast Simona Rutigliano, Nicola Losapio, Chiara Sgherza, Ludovica Amorese, Carmen Roselli, Michele Longo, Carmela Tarantini, Elisabetta Mastrototaro
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director ENZA LASALANDRA
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 14 min 55 s Language Italian
The diagnosis of ALS changes the lives of Franco and his family. Irony, art and the relationship with his wife and daughter accompany the time of the illness, leading to a request for freedom that confronts them with a painful choice.
Production ENZA LASALANDRA
Screenplay ENZA LASALANDRA
Cast GERARDO CARDINALE, ROSANNA PANTANO, ALESSIA FARACI, DESYREE TERMINELLO, ANTONELLA FERILLI, MAURIZIO BONATTO
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: VESTIGIUM – The echo of what remains
Director Michele Alberto Chironi
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 13 min 15 s Language German
During the Nazi raids of 1944, a German soldier searches for a way out of death and destruction. The discovery of some photographs in a searched house triggers a tragic confrontation with his own conscience.
Production Michele Alberto Chironi, Marco Arena
Screenplay Italo Francesco Chironi
Cast Marco Arena, Marco Pellegrino, Annalisa Brunzu, Alessandro Stornino, Emanuele Stornino, Davide Mele, Ariadne Maglie
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Giuseppe Amalfi
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 18 mins ago Language Italian
Following the death of his mother, Elia looks for Iris, his mother's former partner. The attempt to meet her reopens a childhood wound and the need to make sense of an abandonment that continues to scar the present.
Production Carmelo Trifoglio
Screenplay Carmelo Trifoglio
Cast Pierdomenico Minafra, Manola Rotunno, Carlo Cristofaro, Annarita Colucci
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: Coincidences?
Director Giulia Filippini
Year 2026 Duration 18 min 33 s
Synopsis not available.
Synopsis not available in the provided materials.
Director Jean-Marie Vinclair
Year 2025 Country France Duration 78 mins 56 secs Language French, German
Jean-Marie Vinclair discovers that a square is named after a relative who died in Germany during the Second World War. With his wife and children, he begins a search to reconstruct a memory that has long remained hidden.
Production Martin Bertier, Helen Olive, Jean-Marie Vinclair
Screenplay Jean-Marie Vinclair, Martin Bertier
Cast Terence Vinclair, James Vinclair, Eve Vinclair-Berkemeier, André Vinclair, Nathalie Letierce-Liebig, Johannes Tuchel, Eliane Ammi
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: What Remains
Director Gianpaolo Bigoli
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 60 mins Language Italian
During the lockdown in Parma, some citizens return the personal belongings of those who died in hospital to their families. Following that journey, the documentary portrays a community seeking closeness when distancing prevents saying goodbye.
Production Serena Gramizzi
Screenplay Mariachiara Illica Magrini, Gianpaolo Bigoli
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Massimiliano Tedeschi
Year 2024 Country Italy Duration 13 min 55 s Language Italian
A cinematic look at Barletta, in Massimiliano Tedeschi's documentary.
Production Filmax Cultural Association
Screenplay Massimiliano Tedeschi
Cast Tobia Dimonte, Antonio Filannino
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Luca Draoli
Year 2023 Country Italy Duration 24 mins 50 secs Language Italian
Following a serious accident, Juan José Méndez returns to the bicycle and carves out a new path in paralympic sport. Between crashes and victories, the cyclist recounts his journey both on and off the velodrome.
Production Abruzzo branch of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
Screenplay Luca Draoli
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: Dacia, my life: Japanese dialogues
Director Izumi Chiaraluce
Year 2026 Duration 85 mins
Dacia Maraini retraces her childhood in Japan, her imprisonment during the war and her journey as a writer. Personal memoirs, archival footage and testimonies reveal the connection between her experiences, her works and her civic commitment.
Production Massimo Spano/Michelangelo Film, Enrico Bufalini/Cinecittà-Luce, Fabio Mancini/Rai Documentari
Screenplay Izumi Chiaraluce
Cast Dacia Maraini, Liliana Cavani, Giuseppe Tornatore
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Martina Galiè
Year 2018 Country Italy Duration 16 min 48 s Language Italian
The story of a woman welcomed into a refuge opens a window onto domestic violence and the fear experienced every day. A documentary that focuses on a testimony, her time and the need to listen to her.
Production Abruzzo campus of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
Screenplay Martina Galiè
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Edoardo Nervi
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 55 min 53 s Language Italian
Research and personal accounts reconstruct the 1935 Molare dam disaster. The documentary investigates the causes, responsibilities and transformations of the area, right up to the ecosystem born in the places marked by the collapse.
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Antonello Murgia
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 13 min · Language Italian
Five visual chapters weave through the stories of people persecuted for their sexual orientation and erased even in memory. A work on denied memory and the right to love, be recognised and exist.
Production Teatro dallarmadio Cultural Association
Screenplay Fabio Marceddu, Antonello Murgia
Cast Fabio Marceddu
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Monika Herceg
Year 2026 Country Croatia Duration 16 mins 52 secs Language Croatian
Joso lives alone in a Croatian village marked by war, poverty and earthquake. The female director returns to the place of her childhood and, through conversations, humour and everyday gestures, rediscovers a shared memory with him.
Production Sabina Krešić, Bruno Stanković
Screenplay Monika Herceg
Cast Joso
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Sara Zavarise, Alexandra D'Onofrio
Country Italy Duration 62 mins Language Italian
Artist Roberto Papetti meets children from the north to the south of Italy, creating opportunities for play, discovery and imagination. Amidst craftwork, ecology and peace, the documentary explores what we can learn by creating with our hands.
Production Giulia Campagna
Screenplay Sara Zavarise, Alexandra D'Onofrio
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Antonio Carone
Year 2024 Country Italy Duration 36 mins Language Italian
At the end of the nineteenth century, thousands of people left the valleys of Trentino for Brazil, driven by poverty and hardship. Through descendants who have returned to their places of origin, the documentary reconstructs the memory of a migrant community.
Production Martina Pasquini, Federico Di Gioia
Screenplay Francesco Mazzella, Antonio Carone
Author Francesco Mazzella
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Lorenzo Scaraggi
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 65 mins Language Italian
From the coasts of the Gargano to Salento, Antonella follows the traces left by the sea and by those who have crossed it. A journey through archaeology, encounters and landscapes where the past continues to transform the present.
Production Lorenzo Scaraggi
Screenplay Lorenzo Scaraggi
Cast Antonella Carone
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: Part of me
Director Gabriele Iannoli
Year 2023 Country Italy Duration 14 mins Language Italian
Silvana, Luna and Majid share their experiences with endometriosis and vulvodynia. Through relationships, daily compromises and self-deprecating humour, the documentary listens to those living with a chronic illness who are searching for words to make it visible to others.
Production Abruzzo branch of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
Screenplay Gabriele Iannoli
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: The Breath of the Calcara
Director Luca Desiderato
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 4 min 36 s Language Italian
The film reconstructs, also through generative artificial intelligence, the work of the ancient lime kilns of Ostuni. The testimonies of the last masters accompany a journey into the transformation of stone into lime and the memory of a craft.
Production Luca Desiderato
Screenplay Luca Desiderato
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: The slow gaze
Director bruno palma
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 50m Language Italian
Davide walks the Via Francigena from the Great St Bernard Pass to Santa Maria di Leuca. The journey is both geographical and spiritual: the voices of travellers, locals and artisans weave together a collective tale of the places passed through.
Screenplay bruno palma
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: Brass Band Tour
Director DANIELE CINI
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 86 mins · Language Italian
Cesare Dell'Anna crosses Puglia and music with a freedom that escapes labels. Between rehearsals, journeys and concerts, the documentary follows a musician capable of intertwining popular tradition, encounters and experimentation.
Production IVAN D'AMBROSIO
Screenplay DANIELE CINI
Cast CESARE DELL'ANNA
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Joshua Wahlen, Alessandro Seidita
Year 2026 Country Italy, Switzerland Duration 54 mins Language Italian
Seven female voices guide us on a journey through poetry, writing and inspiration. An invitation to slow down, listen and rediscover what in everyday life we risk no longer seeing.
Production Joshua Wahlen, Alessandro Seidita, the PdB community
Screenplay Joshua Wahlen, Alessandro Seidita, Valeria Malgieri, Francesco Occhetto
Cast Barbara Alberti, Chandra Candiani, Roberta Dapunt, Claudia Fabris, Grazia Marchianò, Antonietta Potente, Susanna Tamaro
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: Fluire – Microfilm of passage
Director Paolo Damiani
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 11 min 27 s Language Italian
A visual journey, filmed mainly from above, travels across the lower Sabina region and the course of the Tiber. Landscapes, traces of an ancient sea and personal reflections meet in a short film on the bond between existence, nature and memory.
Production DIGITAL ARTISANS Sensitive Communication
Screenplay Paolo Damiani
Cast Sandro Calabrese
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: Laughter will save us
Director Michelangelo Gregori
Year 2023 Country Italy Duration 60 mins Language Italian
Comedians, artists and academics explore the relationship between humour, satire and religion. A journey through jokes, provocations and reflections on the power of comedy to challenge conventions and open up dialogue.
Production Michelangelo Gregori
Screenplay Michelangelo Gregori
Cast Sergio Staino, Moni Ovadia, Piergiorgio Odifreddi, Giorgio Montanini, Saverio Raimondo, Filippo Girdina, Alessandro Aronadio, Arianna Porcelli Safonov, Daniele Fabbri, Simone GEPPO Metalli, Sergio Spaccavento, David Le Breton, Ivo De Palma, Michelangelo Gregori, Daniele Ercolani, Sara Tortora, Michele Lorefice
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Renato Chiocca
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 71 mins Language English
A bicycle journey from Portugal to Greece crosses through realities of social economy and inclusion. The documentary seeks out an Europe built from the bottom up, connecting landscapes, projects, and people along six thousand kilometres.
Production Utopia 2000 Social Co-operative Society
Screenplay Massimiliano Porcelli, Renato Chiocca
Cast Massimiliano Porcelli, Maria Gaivao, Manuela Madonia, Francesco Garcea
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: High-altitude life
Director Claudio Sponta, Andrea Maria Falzone
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 22 min Language Italian
A season in the Franchetti, Duca degli Abruzzi and Garibaldi mountain huts on the Gran Sasso. The wardens' work tells of toil, hospitality and unexpected events, while the landscape reveals the delicate balance between tourism, human presence and the environment.
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: 2020, the last spring…
Director Fedele Dalessandro
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 81 mins 56 secs Language Italian
During the first lockdown in 2020, a sixty-year-old man faces loneliness in a small town in Southern Italy. The present seems frozen, the future uncertain: all that remains to offer solace are the memories of an everyday life that has suddenly become distant.
Production Fedele Dalessandro, Michele Di Mauro
Screenplay Fedele Dalessandro
Cast Vittorio Masi, Ornella Legrottaglie, Roberto Luca Loiacono, Alessandro Masi, Rino Frittoli
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Work added to the catalogue upon the festival's request
Director Federico Braconi
Format Feature film Genre Documentary Country Italy Duration 74 mins
In Rome, in 2013, a group of friends founded Atletico San Lorenzo. From grassroots football, a community takes shape: a story of sport, belonging and participation that tells the story of a neighbourhood through the people who live there.
Production Simonfilm
Produced by Maurizio Albano
Executive producer Francesco Albano
Featuring Elio Germano, Marcello Fonte
Contributions Sara Fabrizi, Enrico Melozzi, Dario Saltari
Photograph Alessandro Montecchi
Assembly Federico Braconi
Colour Daniele Massa
Audio Lorenzo Contarini
Editorial synopsis from the public record of the work.
Original title: BEYOND WORDS
Director Bruno Tarallo
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 110 min Language Italian
A major anti-violence centre chooses as its spokesperson a writer who became famous by tackling the issue of gender-based violence. The man accepts to promote his books, but a clause in his contract obliges him to work for five days at a support desk. A femicide case shatters his cynicism and changes the way he looks at the victims, while mysterious faceless dice accompany the episodes of violence up to an unexpected conclusion.
Production Bruno Tarallo / BT Productions
Screenplay Bruno Tarallo
Cast Bruno Tarallo, Anastasia Ugolnikova, Salvatore Borruto, Tina Russo, Carlo Conte, Mara Iannaotta, Carlo De Francesco, Francesca Librano, Alina Rusu, Francesco Di Rocco
Editorial translation of the synopsis provided by the author on FilmFreeway.
Director Antonio Palese
Country Italy Duration 37 min 12 s Language Italian
A bureaucratic error strips Giacomo of his Italian citizenship. Disillusioned with his home town of Fabriano, the barista thus embarks on a journey amidst legends, mysteries and eccentric friends to prove his origins and rediscover the city.
Production Matteo Bucciarelli
Screenplay Antonio Palese
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Gaby Smiths
Year 2026 Country Argentina, United Kingdom Duration 85 mins Language English
A group of strangers arrive at an isolated estate in Argentina to spend Christmas. Amongst vintage railway carriages, secrets and unusual rules, the celebration turns into a fight for survival.
Production Gaby Smiths, Mechi Perez, Georgia Viero, Christian Vit
Screenplay Mechi Perez
Cast Mechi Perez, Fernando Enrique, Georgia Viero, Christian Vit, Olivia Scolaro
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Romano Usai
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 60 mins Language Italian
A young pianist reflects on the teachings of her grandfather Giampaolo, who now dedicates his stories to the elderly. Music, memories and imagination intertwine in a film about time, listening and the stories that keep generations together.
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Director Louis Nero
Year 2025 Country Italy, United States Duration 100 mins Language English, Italian
In a post-apocalyptic world where nature has reclaimed technology, twelve-year-old Mila deals with the death of her father. From this wound begins a journey of transformation and the search for redemption.
Production Louis Nero
Screenplay Louis Nero
Cast Isabelle Allen, Harvey Keitel, F. Murray Abraham, Angela Molina, Iazua Larios, Michael Ronda, Hal Yamanouchi, Bruno Bilotta, Diana Dell'Erba, Kaitlyn Kemp
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: On our own
Director Tudor Cristian Jurgiu
Country Italy, Romania Duration 94 mins · Language Romanian
In a small Romanian town, teenagers whose parents have emigrated abroad try to build a family among themselves. At the centre is Flavia, who hides her emotions behind sarcasm and discovers a new point of reference in caring for others.
Production Tudor Giurgiu, Bogdan Crăciun, Simone Catania, Francesca Portalupi
Screenplay Anca Buja, Tudor Cristian Jurgiu
Cast Denisa Vraja, Vlad Furtună, Mara Diaconu-Ducica, Sofia Vasiliu, Dominique Toma
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: Sharks
Director Daniele Barbiero
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 94 min 31 s Language English, Italian
Max is nineteen and has already imagined a trip with friends. The offer from an entrepreneur interested in his app takes him to Rome instead, amidst ambition, competition and questions about the future he really wants to build.
Production Roberto Cipullo
Screenplay Mauro Graiani, Costanza Bongiorni
Cast James Franco, Lorenzo Zurzolo, Ginevra Francesconi, Francesco Centorame, Francesco Gheghi, Stefano Fregni
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: THE FINAL CHALLENGE
Director Antonio Silvestre
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 114 mins Language Italian
Massimo De Core has dedicated his entire career to the same team, without winning the trophy of which he dreams. The story begins on the evening of his fortieth birthday, while an unexpected final rekindles the city's hopes.
Production Mario Tani, Francesco Mangiatordi, Pier Francesco Aiello
Screenplay Antonio Silvestre
Cast Gilles Rocca, Michela Quattrociocche, Vincenzo De Michele, Giulia Cappelletti, Giacomo Bottoni, Giorgio Colangeli, Ivan Franek, Chiara Iezzi
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: Story of a Redemption
Director Stefano Odoardi
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 120 mins Language Italian
In 1990s Sardinia, Giuseppe Vinci is kidnapped and his father Lucio tries every possible way to bring him home. The film retraces the long imprisonment and the difficulties of a family caught between ransom and the state's response.
Production Stefano Odoardi, Gianluca Stuard
Screenplay Stefano Odoardi
Cast Giuseppe Vinci, Andrea Niccolò Staffa, Leonardo Capuano
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: Then I will ask you for forgiveness
Director Stefano Litschen
Year 2026 Country Italy Duration 83 mins Language Italian
Michele lives in a small village in the central Apennines and believes in justice. However, an unexpected encounter and a threat push him towards a dangerous confrontation, in which he will have to measure his principles against the consequences of his actions.
Production Stefania Praticò, Stefano Litschen
Screenplay Stefano Litschen
Cast Andrea Scognamiglio, Giulia Bertoldi, Elisa Tamantini, Carlo Ferrua
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
Original title: The Stone of the Saint
Director Andrea Malandra
Year 2025 Country Italy Duration 70 mins · Language Italian
In rural Abruzzo, a mother takes her teenage daughter in search of a stone to which miraculous healing is attributed. The journey brings protection, faith and a desire for emancipation face to face, amidst landscapes and ancient rituals.
Production Nohaybanda Pescarabruzzo Foundation
Screenplay Erminia Cardone, Gisella Orsini
Cast Daniela Chiavaroli, Valeria Di Menno, Patrizio Marchesani, Lorenza Montoni, Maria Grazia Di Giulio, Flavia Valoppi, Zulima Memba, Chiara Canonico, Alhena Ciattoni
Italian synopsis reworked from the materials of the work.
The CIAQ 2026 works archive documents the films collected during the first edition of the festival, held in L’Aquila from September 17 to 20, 2026. The profiles include, when available, poster, synopsis, director, year, country, duration, language, production, screenplay and cast. The missing information has not been reconstructed.
The catalogue currently includes 78 works: 44 short films, 21 documentaries and 13 feature films. The total takes into account the withdrawals, updates and inclusions, at the festival’s request, of Piccola storia di un muro and Anatomia di un grande sogno. For this reason, it does not coincide with the 79 submissions received through FilmFreeway nor with the selection of the works screened during the festival.
The three sections bring together films of varying lengths and stories. The archive contains 44 short films, including the two titles added by the festival, along with 21 documentaries and 13 feature films. Each card allows you to learn about the work and the people who contributed to its creation through the data and materials available.
The catalogue is a testament to the first edition of the CIAQ Film Festival and the works received from independent authors and directors. The awards awarded in 2026 can be consulted separately in the winners’ dedicated area.