The Hours BetweenFiction · Argentina
Best Fiction Short Film
A shared space for independent cinema in Rome
Inte Cinema Festival was founded in 2018 by a small cultural association with a single, stubborn conviction: that a film only truly comes alive when it is watched together, in one room, by people who then turn to one another and talk. We exist to create a shared space for independent cinema in Rome — not a marketplace, not an industry showcase, but a meeting place.
So much short film now lives and dies inside a browser tab. We believe young directors deserve more than a view count. Every selected film is screened before a real, seated audience, and every filmmaker who attends is invited to stay for the conversation afterward. It is an unglamorous, essential thing: a work shown beyond the web, met with genuine feedback from people who chose to be there.
Our editions are intentionally intimate. There are no red-carpet queues and no simultaneous screens fighting for attention. There are soirées — evenings where filmmakers and audience members sit close, watch closely, and afterward find themselves in the same conversation. Over eight editions this format has drawn work from across the world: films that might otherwise never have reached an Italian audience, now shown a few steps from the streets of Rome.
The 9th edition of Inte Cinema Festival is open for submissions. We accept short films of any theme and any duration — fiction, documentary, animation and experimental — from filmmakers anywhere in the world. Entries are made through FilmFreeway, where the deadlines and entry fees for each category are listed. Submitting earlier costs less than waiting for the late deadline, so it's worth entering as soon as your film is ready.
Submit via FilmFreewayRegular deadline closes in
Regular Deadline · 31 March 2027
Submissions for the 9th Edition are now open. Below is a selection from our most recently completed edition — the winners of the 8th, screened in Rome across a week of soirées.
Inte Cinema Festival is small on purpose. Three things make it what it is.
Each edition unfolds over a handful of intimate evenings. Doors open as the Roman light fades, wine is poured, and a curated programme of shorts plays to a room that is full but never crowded. There is a deliberate slowness to it — the sense of an evening shared rather than a schedule survived. No overlapping screens, no rush between venues. Just one film after another, watched properly.
When the lights come up, nobody leaves. After each screening the filmmakers who are present sit down with the audience and simply talk — about the work, the choices, the things that didn't make the cut. Directors tell us these exchanges are the part they remember most: honest, unhurried feedback from strangers who just watched their film. It is the reason we insist on a real room over a stream.
Rome is not a neutral backdrop. This is the city of neorealism, of a cinema born in the street, and that inheritance sits in the room with us. Filmmakers arrive from across the world and find themselves, between screenings, walking the same cobbles that shaped the medium. The city lends the festival a cultural gravity that no purpose-built venue could — and it sends everyone home with more than a laurel.
Each category winner receives a trophy and a $1,000 cash prize. Runners-up in every category receive a certificate of distinction. Winners are chosen by our jury, whose decision is final.
AwardTrophy + $1,000
AwardTrophy + $1,000
AwardTrophy + $1,000
AwardTrophy + $1,000
Runner-up certificates awarded in all four categories · Jury decision final
This is an amazing opportunity for independent filmmakers. Honored to be a part of this festival.Mateo GonzálezDirector · July 2026
We were delighted to be an award winner for our documentary film. It was an honor to have our work recognized.Fabian PinoDirector · July 2026
Thank you, Inte Cinema Festival, for giving my film a platform to shine and for creating an unforgettable cinematic experience.Naheda AzzamDirector · May 2023
The festival returns for a ninth year with its founding promise intact: any short film, any theme, and no submission fee at any deadline.
Read more →Four trophies, four countries. A look back at the films that moved a Roman audience across the eighth edition's soirées.
Read more →On neorealism, cobblestones and the particular gravity a city brings to a room full of strangers watching a film together.
Read more →