The ninth edition of the Saturnia Film Festival has been presented, an event dedicated to emerging cinema that will enliven the Maremma villages with screenings and open-air gatherings. Let’s see what awaits us.
Beat the heat with the thrills of cinema and special evenings in the squares of Maremma. The Saturnia Film Festival , an event dedicated to emerging cinema, returns for its ninth edition. Organized by the cultural association Aradia Productions, it is chaired by Antonella Santarelli and artistically directed by director Alessandro Grande . The ninth edition will kick off with a special pre-opening evening on Friday, July 24th , before kicking off from July 30th to August 2nd, 2026 .
Five days dedicated to cinema, “a mix of encounters and discoveries, where emerging international cinema takes center stage in a magical atmosphere in the squares of San Martino Sul Fiora, Saturnia, Montemerano , and, for the festival’s final evening, the evocative Terme di Saturnia .” Two competitive sections dedicated to short and feature films will be complemented by special events involving various local municipalities, maintaining the itinerant nature that has always characterized the festival.
The 2026 edition of the Saturnia Film Festival will pay tribute to Anna Magnani , an absolute icon of Italian and international cinema, on the seventieth anniversary of her Oscar win for Daniel Mann’s The Rose Tattoo (1956), which established her as the first Italian actress in the history of the Academy Awards to win the Best Actress statuette. Her talent and legacy will also be celebrated with the festival’s official image, designed by Davide Pompili and inspired by her. The tribute will continue with a screening of Anna by and with Monica Guerritore , an intimate and powerful tale of the actress’s life and artistic journey. Monica Guerritore, director as well as the star of the film, will also be the guest of honor on Friday, July 31st for the screening of her film.
Rounding out the Feature Film Competition are two films that were protagonists of last year’s film and festival season: Le città di pianura by Francesco Sossai, an instant cult of this year’s Italian cinema and winner of the latest David di Donatello Awards, a road trip tale across the Veneto plains starring three unlikely outsiders; and Il rapimento di Arabella by Carolina Cavalli, a road movie that sees the unexpected encounter between a young woman trapped by her regrets and a little girl determined to escape from it all, in a delicate and surprising tale about the desire to change the past.
The ninth edition of the Saturnia Film Festival once again offers a Short Film Competition dedicated to the best short films from around the world, divided into three sections: Italy, International, and Animation.
Among the international titles in competition: Choice by Marko Crnogoroski, the story of a woman forced to face the brutal reality when a new law bans scheduled abortion; Normal by Lara Panah-Izadi, in which a hypersensitive man is forced to confront the violence of his own emotions; Rhubarb Rhubarb by Kate McMullen, which centers on a family running a thriving rhubarb farm in Yorkshire.
Among the Italian titles: the dystopian Arborea by Letizia Zatti, in which the vegetation has mysteriously stopped reproducing and a scientist monitors the sound frequencies of an oak tree, until one day she hears a new sound; Arca by Lorenzo Quagliozzi, in which a group of Hollywood filmmakers fight to preserve cinema from the end of history; Tempi aggiuntive by Matteo Memè, in which a motorbike trip allows a father and son to finally address their complex relationship.
For animation: Mud by Caterina Salvadori and Mariasole Brusa, in which the “mud” of the title is told from a poetic, creative, and material perspective; Retirement Plan by John Kelly, Best Animated Film at the 2026 Oscars, in which the protagonist Ray daydreams about his future in retirement; Rukeli by Alessandro Rak, a story dedicated to Johann Wilhelm Trollmann, who became middleweight champion in Nazi Germany, the first Sinto, or “Gypsy,” to win this title in world boxing.
The Women’s Views section returns this year , produced in collaboration with Mujeres nel Cinema and the Olympia de Gouges Association, with three short films directed by women and focusing on women’s issues: Gente per bene by Irene Girotti, in which the protagonist Luna, a middle-class student, tries to help Alina, a Ukrainian woman in Italy without a residence permit; La parola amore non esisteva by Eva Dematté, in which the director follows her grandfather’s daily life, imagining that his recently deceased grandmother is there with him; Punti nascondenti by Beatrice Baldacci, in which a seventy-five-year-old woman finds the strength to regain her freedom in an encounter with a young seamstress, trapped in a life of control.
The festival program is completed by the Art Short School section , directed by David Pompili, with videos by students from the Gandhi Institute of Narni that will remain on display at the Polo Culturale Le Clarisse in Grosseto for all days of the festival as well as at the Polo Culturale Pietro Aldi in Saturnia.
The full program for the ninth edition of the Saturnia Film Festival will be announced in the coming weeks.
