The 6th edition of Mondi Lontani Short Film Festival brought together filmmakers, photographers, and audiences for three days of cinema, contemporary photography, and critical dialogue. This year’s program explored three thematic axes—environment, motherhood, and historical memory—through documentary perspectives, short films, and visual archives. Hosted between La Santissima – Community Hub and Cinema Modernissimo, the festival invited viewers to reflect on the stories we tell, the images that shape our understanding of the world, and the intimate and collective experiences that bind distant places together.
La Santissima – Community Hub
The opening night featured an in-depth conversation with the artistic director Marco Crispano and the curator Roberta Fuorvia, followed by the screening of the documentary Grasshopper Republic by Daniel McCabe. The evening offered an immersive look into the world of Ugandan locust hunters, exploring ecological balance, resource exploitation, and the human stories behind large-scale natural migrations. The event set the tone for the festival’s focus on documentary cinema and contemporary global issues.
DECEMBER 4TH
Cinema Modernissimo
The second evening centered on motherhood, combining photography, dialogue, and short films. The night opened with the exhibition La madre attesa by Irene Alison, curated by Roberta Furvia, a visual investigation into the expectations, transformations, and emotional landscapes of maternal experience. A public talk with the artist and curator followed, deepening the conversation on documentary imagery and narrative. The program continued with a selection of international short films exploring bodies, families, and contemporary identity.
Film Selection
ASPIS by Antonio Romagnoli (Doc, Italy, 2025)
IMMACULATA by Kim Lêa Sakkal (Fiction, Ger-Fr, 2024)
THE BLACK HEN by Marion Clauzel (Fiction, Fr, 2022)
DECEMBER 5TH
Cinema Modernissimo
The closing night shifted the focus to historical memory and photographic archives. The evening opened with an exhibition of archival posters curated made during the workshop woth Erik Kessel, reflecting on how images shape collective memory. This was followed by the screening of The Mexican Suitcase by Trisha Ziff, a documentary recounting the rediscovery of 4,500 lost negatives from the Spanish Civil War by Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and David “Chim” Seymour. Through interviews and archival materials, the film questioned how nations confront their past and who ultimately owns our stories.
