Rome’s MedFilm Festival returns for its 32nd edition from 5 to 15 November with 67 films from 33 countries, four world premieres and 38 Italian premieres, according to the festival’s official programme and Cinematografo’s advance. Danielle Arbid’s Seuls les rebelles (Only the Rebels) opens the festival in Italian premiere at The Space Cinema Moderno; Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi receives the career award on 9 November ahead of Ahmed Hassouna’s Citizen Osama, Palestine’s submission in the international-feature Oscar race for 2027.
Key facts
- Dates: 5–15 November 2026, Rome; main venue The Space Cinema Moderno
- 67 titles from 33 countries; 4 world premieres and 38 Italian premieres
- Opening: Seuls les rebelles, Danielle Arbid (France/Lebanon/Qatar), Italian premiere
- Career award: Rashid Masharawi (9 November), ahead of Citizen Osama (Palestine’s 2027 Oscar international-feature submission)
- Industry: 10th MedMeetings (9–10 November) with 14 Euro-Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Sub-Saharan projects
Founded and directed by Ginella Vocca, MedFilm is Rome’s longest-running festival and Italy’s first dedicated to Euro-Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cinema; this edition also formally extends to Sub-Saharan Africa through MedMeetings. It follows Marrakech’s 23rd line-up and Korkut Ata’s Istanbul return, and sits ahead of Cairo (11–20 November) on the regional calendar. Related Europe festival coverage includes Tallinn Black Nights’ 30th edition.
Opening night and competition
Seuls les rebelles follows a Palestinian shopkeeper in Beirut, Suzanne (Hiam Abbass), and Osmane, a young Sudanese man on the run, whose relationship collides with class, age and a city in crisis. Arbid attends the opening. The official feature competition (Premio Amore e Psiche) holds eight films; juries include Pedro Armocida, Simona Cives, Federica Lucisano, Francesca Marciano and Miriam Mauti.
Awards, tributes and industry
Beside Masharawi’s career prize, the Koinè Award goes to RAI foreign correspondent and war photographer Giammarco Sicuro on 11 November. Standing prizes include the Valentina Pedicini Award (first and second features across competition, Atlante and Perle), the European Commission’s best Euro-Mediterranean co-production prize for first/second features, the ecumenical prize with Institut français – Centre Saint-Louis, Amnesty International Italy’s human-rights prize, and the WWF / MedFilm Award.
Tributes cover Mohammad Bakri (Jenin, Jenin; 1948; Da quando te ne sei andato; the short Le Monde; plus Masharawi’s Laila’s Birthday with Bakri) and the late Tony Gatlif with Korkoro (Freedom). A WWF Mediterranean short, Angela Gennaro’s Un solo mare, una sola voce, screens as a special event. Masterclasses include Carlo Cresto-Dina with Ippolita Di Majo, and Mario Martone, at Sapienza Università di Roma.
MedMeetings, the festival’s industry platform, marks its tenth edition on 9–10 November at Casa del Cinema with 14 selected projects. Prison screenings under Progetto Methexis, university juries and provincial dates in Riano and Viterbo remain part of the edition.
Full selection
Titles below follow the festival’s official programme PDF. English release titles are used where the programme supplies them; otherwise the programme title is kept.
Official feature competition : Premio Amore e Psiche (8)
- Seuls les rebelles, Danielle Arbid (France/Lebanon/Qatar) : opening film, Italian premiere
- L’Estive, Naël Khleifi and Lisa Debauche (Belgium/France) : Italian premiere
- L’Arabe, Malek Bensmaïl (Algeria/France/Switzerland/Saudi Arabia/Belgium) : Italian premiere
- Al Baraneya, Ashgan El-Hamus (Netherlands/Egypt/Belgium/Saudi Arabia)
- Salvation, Emin Alper (Turkey/France/Netherlands/Greece/Sweden/Saudi Arabia)
- Soumsoum, la nuit des astres, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (France/Chad) : Italian premiere
- Shame and Money, Visar Morina (Germany/Kosovo/Slovenia/Albania/North Macedonia/Belgium)
- Route Algéricaine, Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche (France/Algeria/Saudi Arabia/Qatar) : Italian premiere
Atlante : features
- Revolutionaries Never Die, Mohanad Yaqubi (Palestine/Belgium/Qatar)
- Citizen Osama, Ahmed Hassouna (Palestine/France)
- Les Yeux verts, Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh (France/Belgium/Sweden)
Atlante : shorts
- Flamenco, Carla Simón (Spain)
- In Search of the Grey Bird with Green Stripes (À la recherche de l’oiseau gris aux rayures vertes), Saïd Hamich Benlarbi (Morocco/France)
- Birthmark, George Peter Barbari (Lebanon/France/Croatia)
- Fahrudin, Alen Drljević (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
International short-film competition (16)
- To the North, Amer Nasser (Palestine) : Italian premiere
- Khufu, Mahmoud Assi (Egypt/France/Sweden/Canada) : Italian premiere
- On a Quiet Day, Loukia Hadjiyianni (Cyprus) : Italian premiere
- Angelo Azzurro, Tommaso Acquarone (Italy)
- A Few Things Happening by a River (Algumas coisas que acontecem ao lado de um rio), Daniel Soares (Portugal/France)
- Faux Bijoux, Jessy Moussallem (Lebanon/France)
- Patch (Zakrpa), Luka Galešić (Croatia) : Italian premiere
- Paradise Garden (Les Jardins du paradis), Sonia Terrab (Morocco/France)
- Besieged, Kiarash Ardeshirpour (Iran) : Italian premiere
- Looksmaxxing (Gueule cassée), Joyce Kuoh Moukouri (France)
- Nafron, Daood Alabdulaa (Syria/Germany) : Italian premiere
- A Mirage (Un miratge), Hèctor Prats (Spain/United States) : Italian premiere
- A Tenderness, Sabrine Khoury (Netherlands/Palestine) : European premiere
- Porkatal, Sis Gürdal (Turkey/France) : Italian premiere
- What Do the Maknines Dream Of (À quoi rêvent les maknines), Sarra Ryma (Algeria/France) : Italian premiere
- In Silence, Amine Lakhnech (Tunisia) : world premiere
Perle : Italian cinema (features)
- Schiuma di mondi, Anna Marziano (Italy/Germany)
- Cosa rimane quando il mare si muove, Gaetano Crivaro (Italy)
- Totò Cannibale, Demetrio Giacomelli (Italy)
- Tirrenica, Rosario Minervini (Italy/Spain)
Perle : shorts
- Mambo Kids, Emanuele Tresca (Italy)
- Mutrion, Marco Cavazzin (Italy)
- Il nemico, Andrej Chinappi (Italy)
- Bianca di notte, Caterina Biasiucci (Italy)
- Tutti i giorni di pioggia, Tommaso Landucci (Italy)
- Dove le lacrime aspettano, Caterina Bertini and Blu Diego Fasoli (Italy)
Tributes and special screenings
- Mohammad Bakri: Jenin, Jenin (Palestine/Israel); 1948 (Palestine/Israel); Da quando te ne sei andato (Palestine); Le Monde (Palestine); plus Rashid Masharawi’s Laila’s Birthday (Il compleanno di Laila, Palestine/Tunisia/Netherlands)
- Tony Gatlif: Korkoro (Freedom, France)
- Un solo mare, una sola voce, Angela Gennaro (Italy) : WWF Mediterranean special, world premiere
Voci dal carcere (Progetto Methexis)
- Luce e buio, Sauro Vannicola and Agostino Nalon (Italy; Casa Circondariale di Padova Due Palazzi)
- Tutta un’altra musica, Sergio Licatalosi (Italy; Casa Circondariale di Siena)
- La sua luce, Ludovica Andò and Emiliano Aiello (Italy; Casa di Reclusione di Orvieto)
- I giusti contro Antigone, Serenella Di Michele (Italy; Casa Circondariale di Chieti)
- Le mani sporche, Simone Cannone (Italy; Casa Circondariale di Frosinone)
- Sulla soglia, Artemide Alfieri (Italy; Casa Circondariale di Cassino)
- Macbeth – Cuore nero, Paola Beatrice Ortolani (Italy; Casa di Reclusione di Arienzo)
- The Passengers, Vito Alfarano (Italy; Casa Circondariale di Brindisi)
Sguardi dal futuro (film-school shorts)
- One After the Other, Marianne Barakat (France/Lebanon; La Fémis)
- Latte, Filippo Marasco (Italy; Scuola d’Arte Cinematografica Gian Maria Volonté)
- Fatima, Fatima Al-Naemi (Qatar; Northwestern University in Qatar) : European premiere
- Bye-Bye Marie-France, Ambre Martz (France; La Fémis)
- What a Wonderful Day, Rayane Lahssini (Morocco; ISMAC)
- Selene – Il corpo dell’altra, Michelle Salvatore (Italy; Sentieri Selvaggi)
- In the Name of Eliza, Anxhela Gaxhazi (Albania; AFMM)
- Suiside Fish, Tenej Davidović (Slovenia; UNG)
- May and the Turtle, Zeineb Barkallah (Tunisia; ISAMM) : Italian premiere
- Bianca, Aureliana Bontempo (Italy; CSC)
- Volta, Socrates Mousmoulidis (Greece; AUTh)
- Light, Defne Togay (Turkey; Bilkent University)
- Amici di strada, Piero Calvarese (Italy; Libera Università del Cinema) : world premiere
The day-by-day calendar, venues and ticketing are on the festival site and in the programme PDF.
Our reading
MedFilm’s value for buyers is the Euro-Mediterranean concentration in one Rome week, now with Sub-Saharan projects inside MedMeetings. The career award for Masharawi and the Bakri tribute keep Palestinian cinema at the centre of the public programme without turning the line-up into a single-country focus: the eight-film competition still spans Lebanon, Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Chad, Kosovo and France.