Desenzano Film Festival 2026: three days of short films from 25 to 27 September
From 25 to 27 September, the eighth Desenzano Film Festival brings international short films, masterclasses and new competitions to the city.
The Desenzano Film Festival 2026 returns from 25 to 27 September at Teatro Alberti and Palazzo Todeschini for the eighth edition of the festival devoted to auteur short films. Screenings, concerts and masterclasses will bring works from 72 countries back to the city, with this year’s selection abandoning the traditional categories of fiction, documentary, animation and experimental film.
The organisers received more than one thousand short films. Sixteen will enter the main competition, with works from the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Cuba, the United States, Haiti, Australia, Spain, China and Chile. Bringing all the titles together in a single competitive section reflects a programme focused on the cross-pollination of languages and forms in contemporary cinema.
Alongside the main competition, “Composizioni Sinestetiche” makes its debut, a section devoted to the relationship between sound and image. Nine works have been selected from Italy, France, Germany, Syria, Kosovo, the Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland and Austria. The programme also includes Cinema Lombardia, dedicated to regional productions, and films addressing the environment, work, geopolitics and new technologies.
The 2026 jury will consist of director and screenwriter Federico Francioni, director and producer Giulia Grandinetti, and philosopher, writer and digital artist Francesco D’Isa. Palazzo Todeschini will host masterclasses with the jurors and a presentation of a book by critic Piero De Giovanni on the new statutes of directing.
The festival will award a total of one thousand euros through the Grand Jury Prize, the Cinematic Experimentation Prize and the Audience Award. Further prizes will recognise audiovisual composition, criticism, young filmmakers and Lombard productions. The black marble trophies are made by Marmi Ghirardi.
The festival opens on Friday 25 September at 9 pm at Teatro Alberti with the “Composizioni Sinestetiche” competition. On Saturday 26, short-film screenings are scheduled from 4.30 to 6.30 pm and from 9 to 11 pm. On Sunday 27 they continue from 3 to 5 pm and from 6 to 8 pm, before the award ceremony at 8 pm.