organizing committee: Federico Zecca, Francesco D’Asero, Gabriele Landrini, Angela Bianca Saponari, Roy Menarini, Marco Zilioli, Marco Dalla Gassa and Giulio Tosi
Trieste, 19-20 January 2026

Film festivals are complex events, spaces of encounter, mediation, and flow, serving as nodal points within national and international networks that circulate and produce film culture. Each festival edition, spatially and temporally defined, establishes a unique dimension with its own rituals; nevertheless, the effects of these events resonate on a much larger scale. Film festivals not only convey and activate cultural, social, and industrial relations, but they also contribute to the formation and circulation of a canon, playing a crucial role in transnational cultural mediation as well as in the economic and tourism development of their surrounding areas.

Due to their historical, geographical, and thematic diversity, Europe features a significant number of film festivals that allow for various types of analysis. Beyond the three major events in Venice, Cannes, and Berlin, the continent features prominent, long-standing gatherings (such as Locarno FF, San Sebastián International FF, and Viennale), research or film restoration festivals (such as International FF Rotterdam and Il Cinema Ritrovato), thematic festivals dedicated to specific geographical regions (such as Udine Far East FF, Trieste FF, Karlovy Vary International FF, and Mostra de València), formats (such as International Short FF Oberhausen and Kraków FF), identities, genres, or specific themes (such as Queer Lisboa; Sitges FF and Annecy International Animation FF). Both the major international gatherings and the countless regional or local events scattered across Europe have increasingly become the focus of a growing number of publications and research projects in recent years, particularly concerning social, economic, and geopolitical aspects.

However, there is still a lack of research specifically dedicated to film festivals’ historical and cultural aspects– their role in shaping film history, forming canons and imaginaries, and redefining national, ethnic, and subcultural identities. Furthermore, contributions to the transnational history of European film festivals remain scarce, particularly when viewed as events that contribute to the circulation of cinematic culture and as spaces for encounters and exchanges, never disassociated from the often-traumatic history of the continent in which they are located. On these premises, the Reframing European Film Festivals: Transnational Histories, Cultures and Identities conference invites scholars to submit proposals that explore the historical-cultural dimension of European film festivals through various approaches, favouring original case studies, unpublished sources, or innovative research methodologies.