The 40th Lovers Film Festival is produced by the national cinema museum of Turin, Museo Nazionale del Cinema di Torino. It is financed principally by the City of Torino council, by the government of the Piedmont region and by the Department for Cinema in the Ministry for Culture and Cultural Heritage. The festival is also supported by other organizations, bodies and private sponsors.

FESTIVAL DATES

The 40th Lovers Film Festival will be held in Turin from April 10th to April 17th, 2025.

FESTIVAL SECTIONS

The programme of the Festival will include three competition sections:

All the Lovers – International Competition for FEATURE FILMS

Open to fiction feature films on lgbtq+ themes

Real Lovers. – International Competition for DOCUMENTARIES

Open to documentaries on lgbtq+ themes

Future Lovers – International Competition for SHORT FILMS

Open to international short films of any format on lgbtq+ themes

In addition, outside the competition sections, the festival Selection Committee will organise a programme of Special Events.

REGULATIONS FOR ENTRY

The Directors of the Festival are solely responsible for selecting the films. Their decision is final. The official Festival Sections in Competition All The Lovers, Real Lovers and Future Lovers are open to films produced after January 2023. Films that have already been screened publicly in any form in Italy are not eligible to enter the competitions, unless the Festival and the Selection Committee decide otherwise, at their discretion. The films included in the section Future Lovers are exempted from this rule: the Festival does not require the Italian première status for titles selected in this section. Entries arriving after  11:59 pm of March 5, 2025 will not be considered for selection.

ENTERING A FILM
To submit a film to the Festival you must fill out and send the entry form on FilmFreeway (https://filmfreeway.com/LoversFilmFestival). On our official website www.loversff.com is also available the link to submit on Filmfreeway.

Films that will be invited to be part of the festival must be sent with full documentation as follows:

• Streaming link of the film, valid until the closing date of the Festival;
• complete, detailed technical description;

– complete script of dialogue in the original language and, if possible, the translation into English;

– detailed synopsis of film content;

– bio-filmography of director;

– still photos in digital format (minimum resolution 300dpi), on the understanding that the Festival is authorized to publish them without charge

– photo of director;

– statement from director about the film;

– clips from the film chosen by the producers for promotional purposes;

– any other promotional materials (brochure and press-kit in digital format, posters, etc.).

AWARDS

ALL THE LOVERS – INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FOR FEATURE FILMS

The Directors of the Festival will appoint an International Jury to award the following awards:

– Best Feature Film: “Ottavio Mai” Prize – money prize of 1,000 Euros for the director of the winning film;

– Special Mention from the Jury (awarded at the discretion of the Jury).

REAL LOVERS – INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FOR DOCUMENTARIES

The Directors of the Festival will appoint a Jury to award the following prizes:

– Best Documentary: money prize of 500 Euros for the director of the winning film.

FUTURE LOVERS – INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FOR SHORT FILMS

The Directors of the Festival will appoint a Jury to award the following prizes:

– Best Short Film:  Award – money prize of 300 Euros for the director of the winning film.

– GIO ‘STAJANO AWARD

The Festival, from an idea of ​​the writer Willy Vaira and Claudio Carossa, dedicates a recognition to the memory of Giò Stajano, one of the most important and significant figures in the Italian LGBTQI culture, who for too long has been in the background.

The prize consists of the sum of 500 euros, which will be donated to the film, chosen from all the sections of the program, identified by the festival’s selection committee and by Willy Vaira.

ACCEPTANCE OF REGULATIONS

Submission of a film to be considered for selection implies total acceptance of these regulations and of the decisions made by the Directors of the festival regarding the presentation of the films and their inclusion in the various sections of the programme.

The submission of a completed entry form as well as the signed copy of these regulations will be considered documented proof that the presenter of the film freely accepts the Regulations and agrees to take part in the Festival. In the case of dispute only the text of the Regulations written in Italian will be considered legally binding.

SELECTED FILMS

The inclusion of a film in any one of the Festival sections must remain absolutely confidential until the Festival has published its programme in hard copy and digital form (on its website https://www.loversff.com ). Any breach of this confidentiality will result in the exclusion of the said film from selection.

Once the submitter of a film has accepted the invitation to take part in the Festival, they are committed to making the film available for a maximum of three screenings and may not withdraw the film from the programme. If a selected film is found to be accessible for viewing online on a website of any kind (also pay for view), or if the file can be downloaded, this film will be disqualified and eliminated from the Festival programme.

This decision will be made solely by the Directors of the Festival.

If an official invitation from the Festival to include a film in the programme has been accepted, this film cannot be withdrawn.

The programming and scheduling of screenings are under the sole jurisdiction of the Directors of the Festival.

All films invited to take part must supply a complete script of the film in English or Italian with timecode, and a copy of the film in its final cut version, to enable the preparation of electronic subtitles.

The costs of translating and subtitling (in Italian) the films presented in the main sections will be met by the Festival, unless submitters specifically request otherwise.

The files of these translations will remain the property of the agencies contracted by the Festival to produce the subtitles.

To enable the Festival to support the films in all sections with effective promotion, on TV networks, on our web site and on our social profiles (Facebook fanpage, Twitter and Youtube), we request that, in addition to the required materials, submitters also send (to the Festival office) any clips and theatre trailers they may have of the films selected (preferably in digital form).

The Festival reserves the right to use the original material sent to us by the submitter to create trailers, which will be used exclusively as a promotional tool on the Festival’s internet channels, in the theatres where the Festival will be held and for other promotional purposes. In accordance with current international regulations, these materials alone will be supplied by the Festival to TV networks.

Digital Cinema Package (DCP)

The DCP (Digital Cinema Package) is the only screening format accepted by the Festival and it should be sent with digital delivery.