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

The Eighteenth Edition of the Naples Human Rights Film Festival, titled “Human and Integral Development, Principles of Peace,” will take place in November 2026 in the urban area of the city of Naples.

The admitted works — documentary, fiction, and animation — should portray aspects of contemporary reality, focusing on the social, cultural, economic, and environmental issues that globalization and the crisis of traditional development models have made unavoidable for the global community, as well as on possible solutions, best practices, and forms of resistance to social decline that communities, associations, and citizens experiment with daily.

Particularly welcome are works that recount real cases of denunciation or human resistance, whether individual or collective, opposing threats, abuses, violence, dictatorships, and aggression against people belonging to ethnic or cultural minorities or socially vulnerable groups.

The XVII INaples 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

For works selected in the competitive sections HUMAN RIGHTS DOC, HUMAN RIGHTS SHORT the Italian Federation of Cinema Circles (FICC) also establishes:

FICC SCHORTS and FICC DOC Awards

The internal selection committee will award a Special Mention in memory of Vittorio Arrigoni and Juliano Mer Khamis to a work that, with courage, passion, and independence, brings to light marginal stories and situations, outlining new spaces for modern civil activism, including through experimental forms of communication and language.

A “Platea Diffusa” Jury, composed of citizens and supported by media and Festival partners, will award a Special Mention to a film in the HUMAN RIGHTS DOC or HUMAN RIGHTS SHORT sections.

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 January 1st, 2025.

The deadline for the submission of the works is May 30, 2026.

Thank you for your interest and affiliations.

Info: competition@cinenapolidiritti.it

Submission: