17th River Film Festival

31st May — 18th June 2023

River staircase of Porta Portello, Padua

Each year, to an ever-increasing extent, River Film Festival projects hundreds of cinematographic works from around the world, which are viewed and voted by a qualified jury and audience.

In the fifteen editions realized so far, on the floating screen on the river Piovego, there have been projected

2558

Cinematographic works

132

Countries

The Festival is among the official partners of important international cinema events: first of all Berlin Film Festival where every year, in February, RiFF presents the programme in preview.

 

Prestigious are also the sponsors of national and international institutions: European Parliament, Universities, Embassies, Institutes of Culture, Film Schools and Associations. River Film Festival therefore helps to place the city of Padua, with its Municipality and its University, at the center of European cultural policies.

Guidelines 2023

Submission

Via FilmFreeway 

  • Early bird deadline 30 September 2022 – Euro 20
  • Regular deadline 31 December 2022 – Euro 25 
  • Late deadline 31 March 2023 – Euro 30

Terms

  • The films in competition must be made after the 1st of January 2022.
  • The films can be: fiction, film schools, documentaries, animation and VR Cinema.
  • The duration shall not exceed 30 minutes and shall not be less than 100 seconds including the titles.
  • Films are allowed in any language provided they are subtitled in English and Italian.
  • Applications for admission to the Festival imply the unconditional acceptance of these regulations.
  • The management of the Festival will have the right of final decision on everything not specified in this regulation. The Court of Padua is competent for any dispute.

Selection

  • The selection of films will be made by an independent committee appointed by the Festival, whose opinion will be final.
  • All selected films will receive the Official Laurels Selection.
  • No film will be discriminated against or favoured by country of origin, language, age of the author, race, genre, ideological content or production budget, and subjected to any censorship, except that established by Italian law in force.
  • The selected films will be published by May 15, 2023 on our website and communicated by email.
  • The festival catalogue will be available after 15 May 2023.

Award ceremony

Award logo, certificate and GOLDEN RIVER (glass sculpture made by the masters of Murano). The international jury of the 17th edition of the River Film Festival 2023 will award the following prizes:

  • To the best short film schools
  • To the best Italian short
  • To the best fiction film
  • To the best documentary film
  • To the best animated film
  • To the best VR Cinema
  • To the best QueerShort

The audience will award the best short.

The winning films are obliged to mention the prize in future screenings.

RiFF is supported by

Municipality of Padua – Department of Culture.

With the contribution of

Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo.

Supported by an important partnership network

European Parliament, ECU Film Festival, HIT-Human Inspired Technology dell’Università di Padova, River College Virtual Reality, la7Gold, Radio Cooperativa, il Mattino di Padova, Sehstern Kommunication – Berlin, l’Associazione Progetto Portello e Comitato Mura di Padova.