HIGHLIGHTS
Piazza Pitti, Florence
June 22 & 29 and July 6 & 13, 2026, 9:45 PM
Free admission, subject to availability.
From June 22 to July 13, 2026, the 16th edition of Notti di Mezza Estate returns, the festival of artists’ films and documentaries on contemporary art presented by Lo schermo dell’arte in the extraordinary new setting of Piazza Pitti, as part of Apriti Cinema within the Estate Fiorentina programme.
All films are screened in their original language with Italian and English subtitles.
Florence, November 11–15, 2026
The open call for the 15th edition of VISIO closed on May 15.
More than 140 applications were received from 53 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Myanmar, Canada, China, Colombia, South Korea, Finland, Ghana, India, Iran, Lithuania, Nigeria, Peru, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, and Yemen.
More than half of the applications were submitted by women artists.
VISIO includes the VISIO Production Fund, a €35,000 production grant. Among the applicants, eight artists will be selected to take part in the programme, while three will receive production support to develop new works in collaboration with Leonardo Bigazzi and the Lo schermo dell’arte team.
The eight selected artists will be announced in September 2026.
The call for applications for the 15th edition of VISIO is now open: applications must be submitted by Friday, May 15, 2026.
VISIO includes the VISIO Production Fund, a €35,000 production fund. Eight artists will be selected, and the funds will be awarded to three of them, who will work with Leonardo Bigazzi and the Lo schermo dell’arte team to produce their works and premiere them at the 2027 Festival.
Project developed as part of the National Plan for Cinema and Images for Schools 2025/2026, promoted by the Italian Ministry of Culture (MiC) and the Ministry of Education and Merit (MiM), with the aim of encouraging young people to engage with cinematic language and moving images.
Between January and May 2026, artists Marina Arienzale, Veronica Citi, Roberto Fassone and Giacomo Raffaelli, Agnese Galiotto, Lori Lako, Claudia Losi, Francesco Puppo, and educator Chiara Tognolotti conduct workshops for primary and lower secondary school students from the I.C. Pirandello in Florence, the I.C. Pelago and the I.C. Teresa Mattei in Bagno a Ripoli, alongside professional development activities for teachers.
In addition to the workshops, the project includes a film programme, Lo schermo dell’arte YOUNG, aimed at primary and lower secondary school students from the three participating institutions.
The screenings are introduced by Milo Adami, filmmaker and lecturer at ISIA Urbino, CIPS trainer and founder of the association 24FPS.
Florence
12 – 16 November 2025
Cinema La Compagnia, Palazzo Strozzi, NYU Florence, Institut français Firenze, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut Palazzo Grifoni Budini Gattai, Palazzo Gucci
Opening night with Non-Aligned Newsreels: Fragments, a live documentary by Mila Turajlić exploring Yugoslav archives and African revolutions.
Focus on Randa Maroufi, a Franco-Moroccan artist whose work investigates bodies, public space, and gender issues.
Throughout the Festival: VR installations by Italian artists Valentina Furian and Claudia Losi at Palazzo Strozzi, an exhibition on Armin Linke at the Kunsthistorisches Institut, and screenings of BLKNWS by Kahlil Joseph at Palazzo Gucci.
The program also featured La Defense III – Demons to Diamonds (2024) by Valentin Noujaïm and the world premiere of Afternoon Hearsay (2025) by Peng Zuqiang, both produced through the VISIO Production Fund.
Also confirmed: streaming on MYmovies ONE, the Under 30 Audience Award, and free admission for visitors under 30.
The streaming channel of Lo schermo dell’arte, dedicated to artist cinema and documentaries on contemporary artists, is now available on MYmovies ONE.
This collection features films that successfully straddle genres, as presented in various editions of the festival, focusing on the use of moving images and urgent contemporary issues.
These films include portraits of famous figures in the art world, rediscovered personalities who are little known or have fallen into oblivion, narratives of well-known or distant events, and stories that introduce us to the thoughts and practices of artists and curators, accompanying us through the process of creation.
Italy geolocated only.
NEWS
The exhibition Armin Linke: The City as Archive. Florence extended until February 15, 2026
At the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max Planck Institute, at Palazzo Budini Gattai, the exhibition Armin Linke: The City as Archive. Florence will be open to visitors until February 15 instead of January 31.
The exhibition offers a compelling and critical reading of Florence through photographs by artist and filmmaker Armin Linke alongside historical documentary photographs from the Institute’s Photo Library.
The exhibition path explores archives, museums, and collections from twenty institutions outside the city’s usual tourist circuits, including the State Archives, the Museo Galileo, the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, and the Italian Geographic Military Institute.
Afternoon Hearsay by Peng Zuqiang screened at Rotterdam
Afternoon Hearsay (2025; China, UK, Italy; 19′) by Peng Zuqiang, produced by Lo schermo dell’arte in collaboration with the Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci thanks to the VISIO Production Fund, will be screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Breaking the Frame program on January 31 and February 1, with the director in attendance.
The film reconstructs the history of the 8.75 mm film format, a unique format developed and produced exclusively in China between the 1960s and 1980s. Using camera-less techniques and photochemical abstraction, Peng reflects on disappearance and memory, asking: what is a film without a camera?
Congratulations, Peng!
like moths to light by Gala Hernández López at the International Film Festival Rotterdam
We are pleased to announce that like moths to light (2026; France, Spain, Italy; 26′) by Gala Hernández López will compete at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, in the Tiger Short Competition, where it will have its world premiere.
Blending documentary and fiction, the film follows young women navigating online spaces as sites of self-representation and work, highlighting the ambiguities of the attention economy and the power dynamics that shape contemporary image production.
like moths to light was produced by Lo schermo dell’arte and Fondazione In Between Art Film thanks to the VISIO Production Fund, following Gala’s participation in the 13th edition of VISIO – European Programme on Artists’ Moving Images.
Good luck, Gala!