XVII Human Rights Film Festival of Naples: the announcement for the film contest | Festival del Cinema dei Diritti Umani di Napoli

The Seventeenth Edition of the Naples Human Rights Film Festival titled “Promised Lands, Stolen Lands, Peoples without Peace” will take place in November 2025 in the city of Naples.

The 2025 edition of the Festival will give voice to Palestinians, Kurds, Saharawis and Roma who, in the collective imagination, are the ‘landless peoples’ par excellence, that is, peoples who have long-standing civilised traditions, but have not managed or have not been able to organise themselves in the form of a State and are still considered ‘refugees’ or ‘displaced persons’, in whatever country they are.

The film competition of the 17th edition of the Naples Human Rights Film Festival 2025 is, as always, open to all films that deal with any topic of Human Rights.
Particular value will be given to works portraying real cases of human resistance or denunciation, either individual or collective, in opposition to threats, abuses, violence, dictatorships, and aggression toward ethnic, cultural, or socially vulnerable minorities.

The XVII Naples Human Rights Film Festival Competition is divided into 4 sections:

A) HUMAN RIGHTS DOC AWARD, open to works lasting longer than 52 minutes.

B) HUMAN RIGHTS SHORT AWARD, open to short films lasting less than or equal to 52 minutes.

C) HUMAN RIGHTS YOUTH AWARD, open to works of authors under 25 years of age or addressed to an audience of children and/or young people up to 25 years of age, lasting no longer than 30 minutes.

D) SWISS AMBASSADOR FOR PEACE AWARD, open to works about events and issues related in a broad sense to the theme of Peace and its implications.

For works selected in the competitive sections HUMAN RIGHTS DOC, HUMAN RIGHTS SHORT AND HUMAN RIGHTS YOUTH, there is also:

the “MARIO PACIOLLA” PRIZE, for works dealing with international cooperation, solidarity and volunteerism
the “FICC” PRIZE, in collaboration with the Italian Federation of Cinema Circles
the Special Mention, entitled to the memory of Vittorio Arrigoni and Juliano Mer Khamis, to the work that, with courage, passion and independence, brings to light marginalized situations and stories which describe little known struggles as a form of modern civil activism
the Special Mention (“Platea Diffusa“)

The authors of audiovisual works, interested in entering the competition for the prizes, are invited to learn about the attached competition notice and to download the release clause, to be filled in, signed and sent to the Festival Organisation Committee.

The presented works must meet the criteria stated in the notice and must have been produced not before than June 1st, 2023.

The deadline for the submission of the works is July 10, 2025.

Thank you for your interest and affiliations.

Info: competition@cinenapolidiritti.it

Submission: