The only way for a film to be selected at Ferrara Film Festival is with an official submission through FilmFreeway, or directly negotiated with the distribution companies. We select films of any genre and from any Country in the World, without any sort of discrimination. Here below our rules:

1) Accepted runtimes for Feature Films and Documentaries are: min 60 and max 160 minutes.

2) Accepted runtimes for Short Films are: min 3 and max 30 minutes.

3) Ferrara Film Festival does not pay any fee to screen films in our official program. We make no exceptions.

4) All selected FEATURE FILMS must be at least Italian premieres with some exceptions made if premiered in another major film festivals in Italy. No restrictions if the film took part of film festivals outside Italy.

5) All selected SHORT FILMS must be at least regional premieres, meaning that a film can't participate to other film festivals in the Region of Emilia-Romagna, before Ferrara Film Festival.

6) A selected film must not have a public release (theatrical, streaming, online) prior to the current edition of Ferrara Film Festival (annually in the last week of September).

7) For the current edition, we select films that are completed only in 2024 or 2025.

8) Submission fees cannot be refunded.