KINOFILM 2026: ITALIAN SHORTS Programme (Cert 15)

ITALIAN SHORTS PROGRAMME (Cert 15)

Thursday 14th May, Instituto Cervantes, Deansgate, Manchester

Doors open at 6.00pm programme starts at 6.30pm

Welcome to KINO at the Instituto Cervantes for this fine selection of Italian Shorts brought to you by KINOFILM 2026 European Focus, in collaboration with the the Società Dante Alighieri Manchester and the Instituto Cervantes Manchester. Tickets for this event are FREE but should be booked in advance. to gurantee your seat. There may be some remaining tickets available on the door .

The shorts will be introduced by Dr. Silvana Serra (PhD in Film Studies).

Programme Details

GRANDI SPERANZE (GREAT EXPECTATIONS)

Dir/Wri/Pro: Bruno Ugioli, Mattia Capone, Alessandro Garelli, Italy, 2025, 10’

To help his grandmother climb a hill, Mayor Massimo Rampanti decides to build a chairlift. But his ambition spirals out of control. In Monforte, a small village in the Langhe, a fever for "grand projects" breaks out. A hilarious mockumentary on the megalomania that infects Italian politics.

I SASSI (RIVER'S END)

Dir: Maddalena Crespi, Pro: Salice Production, Pistacchio Film, Wri: Maddalena Crespi, Italy, 2026, 15'

Alessandra and Elisa are fifteen, bound by an intense connection that shifts between closeness, desire, and subtle jealousy. Elisa is about to move abroad, and the looming distance charges every gesture with new weight. They tease, provoke, and cling to each other—as if holding on and pushing away were the same thing. What they can’t express surfaces in silences, in glances, in the fragile balance between them. Over the course of a long afternoon, an extreme act begins to take shape, driven by something deep, unspoken, and unresolved.

I FANTASMI (THE GHOSTS)

Dir/Pro/Wri: Federico Papagna, Pro: Francisco Javier Martinez, Valerio Lorito.

Italy, 2025, 15’

In the Italian countryside, two teenagers and their friends are persistently searching for Luca, a peer to whom they gave a small sum of money in advance without receiving the hashish they had requested. Fillippo, one of the boys involved in the scam, must try to keep secret the violent plan his friends have devised to take revenge.

OLTRE LA COLLINA (BEYOND THE HILL)

Dir: Andrea Maddalena Bernardi, Pro; Angela Ferramosca, Fabio Gandolfi, Wri: Elisa Di Francesco, Alice De Luca, Italy, 2025, 12’

Matteo, a young illustrator nervous about an interview, stops for a coffee. When Sara gets stuck in the café bathroom, he uses his drawings to calm her. As the bartender struggles to help, an unexpected bond forms: one that might change his day, and maybe his career.

CAMERA CON VISTA (A ROOM WITH A VIEW)

Dir: Mario Porfito, Pro: Run Film,. Wri: Mario Porfito, Italy, 2025, 20’

Two long-term patients, whose exact conditions are unspecified, share a room, attempting to build a relationship in that suspended time. One vividly describes the life unfolding outside the window in front of him, while the other draws it, rediscovering a bit of himself in the process. Filippo is interested in the present and tries to live it to the fullest. Alberto, little by little, moves from his gruff self-containment to curiosity towards his roommate.

AURA

Dir: Stefania Accettulli, Pro: Vincenzo De Marco, Wri: Stefania Accettulli, Italy, 2024, 15’

Aura, a judoka who refuses any kind of emotional connection, tries to teach the art of judo to Miriam, a girl traumatized with haphephobia and afraid of being touched.

FINCHE MORTE NON CI SEPARI (UNTIL DEATH DO US PART)

Dir/Wri: Edoardo Maione, Alice Gnech, Pro: Angela Ferramosca, Adriana Vita, It, 2025, 20’

Delia has been in Heaven for fifteen years, suspended in a state of quiet stillness. Lidia’s arrival leads her to a shocking discovery: Andrea, the husband who died after her, is in Hell. What seemed like the end of their story may now become a new beginning.

Film programme length, 102 mins (112 min including introduction)

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Host or Publisher Kinofilm Manchester International Short Film Fest