Tourist port of Rome | 24-27 July 2025
Projections and Masterclass in the new Matches group review on the sea of โโRome
The new free film festival dedicated to short cinema will start next July 24th, conceived and promoted by Matches group through its new film division, the GM Production, with the support of the Mic – Ministry of Culture e di SIAE – Italian Company Authors and Publishers, As part of the “For those who create” program. A prestigious summer appointment for all cinema lovers.
Rome, 9 July 2025 | The Tourist port of Romewell in confiscation that boasts a social and territorial redevelopment project of which the Matches group communication agency is among the most active operators, it becomes once more a place for cultural and inspiration. Ostia in short – Short Film Fest It will propose to the public innovative and original works, short films capable of reflecting new trends, themes and prospects of national and international independent cinema. It will also be a review full of guests and meetings, thanks also to four Masterclass, Guided by as many directors, who will deepen important issues on the world of audiovisual today, and which every evening, at 6.30 pm, will anticipate the projections of 21.30.
The general management of Ostia in short is of Andrea Cicini Matches group CEO, which since 2017 has followed the events and communication of the tourist port of Rome, with twenty years of experience in the world of major events and international film event. “In a territory that exudes cinema, which is Ostia, – he said Cicini โ It is for us a reason for pride to launch this new short film festival, thanks to a surreal arena suspended between land and sea. A new project for the territory, to share culture without borders through the emotions that only the film can offer, above all told by the gaze of young directors and screenwriters “.
The artistic direction of the Festival is instead entrusted to Alberto de Angelissector professional, flanked by Cristina Borsatti, Responsible for GM Production.
The masterclasses and the courts of the directors involved
Thursday 24 July – initial evening of the Festival – it will be the turn of Xin Alessandro Zhengdirector born in 1997, in competition in 2020 to Venice International Critics Week with short film Where the leaves fall. Title of the meeting: The procrastination of the letter. Unlock the artist. An unprecedented masterclass dedicated to the psychological side of creation, to the relationship with one’s creative side, to the blocking of the writer.
Friday 25 July, the director Lorenzo Pallottaauthor of some appreciated documentary feature films (Sacred profanepresented in 2021 in Alice in the city e Terra Nova, the country of long shadowsselected in 2023 at the Turin Film Festival) will guide the meeting Look over time. Cinema and memory. A masterclass designed for those who want to ask themselves about new, often uncontrolled forms, through which cinema continues to reinvent themselves.
The director Matteo De Liberatoauthor of lucky short films and artistic director of Allegories distribution, starting from the experiences of his latest long documentary Cento – Assault on the Morowill introduce Saturday 26 July, Tell the other, find the universal. Stories from different culturesMasterclass dedicated to all those who want to face with awareness and depth the staging of stories set in a cultural and national context other than their own.
The director will close the rundown of Masterclass Gianluca Santonithis year candidate for Cinquina David for best debut for the direction with his work before feature film Me and the dry. Sunday 27 July the director will propose the meeting Incognito superheroes. Direct professional and non -professional actorswhich will explore the fascinating theme of the co -presence and the direction of professional and non -professional actors in the composition of the casting of a work.
During the event, the directors involved in the masterclasses will present some of their most appreciated short films, starting from Where The Leaves Fall by Xin Alessandro Zheng, profound reflection on the theme of uprooting, through the story of Giacomo, a second generation Italian-Chinese, guided by his grandfather in the ritual context of the culture of origin. By Lorenzo Pallotta will be screened the intense short film Luisin which between hesitation and fears two brothers share the last moments together and must overcome their first separation. Matteo De Liberato will present The days of orangesa story of maternal love and sacrifice set in a Romania under the Ceausescu regime. Here, inside a cell, Daiana receives just before being condemned to death a visit of a young priest, through which the woman discovers she still has a lot to lose. By Gianluca Santoni, finally, the short film will be screened Unforgettablea touching and unusual story of falling in love, between a young disabled woman to her first experience of intimacy and a boy who professionally is the escort.
A review, four themed evenings
โShort territoriesโthe evening dedicated to works capable of enhancing the specificities of a place and opportunity to present the courts coming from CALL FOR STUDENTSwhich in this first edition has by theme Young people and their territorythat of Ostia, aimed at secondary school students from the X Town Hall of Rome.
The second evening, โNew languages โโshortโ, It will be dedicated to works that experience new expressive forms in the cinema.
A third evening, “Short animationsโ, It will focus on short animation cinema.
To close the festival, โCircuits shortโ. Some of the best shorts on the Italian cinema scene will be screened.
Tourist port of Rome (Lungomare Duca degli Abruzzi 84) 24/27 July 2025 with free admission: 18.30 Masterclass | 9.30 pm Projections