Rules and Regulations
“Visioni Incontra” is an opportunity for meeting between directors, authors, and producers of documentaries and industry professionals, such as producers, broadcasters, commissioning editors, sales agents, national and international distributors, platform managers, Festival directors, and Film Commission representatives.
The objective of “Visioni Incontra” is to support the creation and financing of quality documentary projects still in the phase of advanced development, pre-production, or advanced production, whether they are feature films or documentary series.
Visioni Incontra will take at the Teatro Litta on Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 September.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
- The call is reserved for independent Italian and international productions and co-productions.
- Selected projects can be in different stages of development: final development or work in progress.
- Final development projects must be in the pre-production phase and already financed for at least 30% of the estimated budget. Financing also includes self-financing and own resources.
- Work in progress projects must be in an advanced stage of filming and already financed for at least 60% of the estimated budget. In this case, too, self-financing and own resources are considered part of the financing.
- Submitted projects must be Italian premieres and must not have already been presented at other markets in Italy.
Submission Procedures
The request for registration to the Festival must be made by completing the official entry form (Entry Form) available online on the official website. All applications must be submitted no later than May 31, 2026.
Registration Procedure
The request for registration must be made through the official link:
Entry Form – Visioni Incontra 2026 Contest
- For pre-selection, the submission of a teaser/trailer with filmed material attesting to the project’s current state of progress is required. The contribution must be sent exclusively via a protected link (preferably Vimeo with the download option activated), indicating the URL and password in the online registration form.
- During the registration phase, productions should send a teaser/trailer with a duration of: at least 3 minutes for projects in the final development; at least 8 minutes for projects in the work in progress. It is possible to integrate further visual material (edited sequences, interviews, or other) into the registration form via link to provide a more complete idea of the project.
- The link for viewing the project, with the relative password, must remain active at least until the end of July.
- Materials sent for registration (including screeners) will not be returned.
Entry Fee
For each work registered, an entry fee of 30.00 Euro (VAT included) is required to cover administrative, secretarial, and pre-selection expenses. The fee is non-refundable and must be paid via the following link:
Submission Fee – Visioni Incontra Contest
Note: Only projects for which the payment of the fee has been correctly carried out will be admitted to the pre-selection phase.
Validation and confirmation of registration
Registration will be considered valid only when:
- The title complies with the Regulations and the requirements of the call.
- The ENTRY FORM has been completed in its entirety.
- The screener link (URL and password) has been correctly provided.
- The entry fee has been settled.
If the registration is carried out correctly, the Programming Office will send a confirmation e-mail attesting to the participation in the pre-selection.
The official outcome of the selection will be communicated to the interested parties by July 1, 2026. Teams of projects selected for the Contest are required to pay a mandatory participation fee of €50 for Visioni Incontra. This fee includes: 2 accreditations (director and producer), an online pitch training session, organized one-on-one meetings, and networking events. Confirmation of participation, along with the proof of payment, must be submitted within 7 days of official notification from the Festival.
Jury & Awards
Visioni Incontra provides for the assignment of a prize worth €2,500 to the project considered most deserving by a selected jury of decision makers present during the event. Selected projects will also compete for the following prizes, awarded at the discretion of the representatives of each company or entity:
- Lo Scrittoio Subtitles Award, awarded to the project that best tells of globality and interculturality;
- Archivio Documentario Luce Award, the prize consists of the supply of Archive material from Luce, for a maximum of 5 minutes, to the project deemed by Luce representatives as the most interesting for its use of the Archive;
- Cinema La Compagnia Award consisting of the selection of a project that, once completed, will be included in the programming of Cinema La Compagnia in Florence, the only theatre in Italy dedicated exclusively to documentary cinema;
- Bio to B Award consisting of the selection of a project that can participate in Bio to B – Industry Days, an annual event that Biografilm Festival (Bologna) dedicates to business-to-business networking among audiovisual professionals;
- Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival Award, consisting of the selection of a project that can participate in the Industry section of Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival, an important Polish festival;
- Wanted Cinema Award, consisting of the selection of a project that, once completed, will be distributed on the VOD platform linked to Wanted Cinema and included in the programming of the Wanted Clan cinema.
The Direction of Visioni Incontra reserves the right to establish further prizes and juries for the Visioni Incontra 2026 edition.
The award is to be considered a contribution intended for the completion of the film and will be delivered to the production company that submitted the application.
If the awarded project becomes a finished work, Visioni Incontra invites the director and producer to register the documentary for a possible premiere at Visioni dal Mondo.
Projects selected for Visioni Incontra and awarded projects must compulsorily include the Visioni Incontra logo with the wording “selected project” in the opening credits. Awarded projects must subsequently include the wording “awarded project”. The Programming Office will provide the logo.
Selection and Programming’s criteria
The main selection criteria will be the artistic quality of the project, uniqueness of content, relevance of the topic, stage of development, international distribution potential, and its financial feasibility.
The selection of projects is carried out by and at the final judgment of the Direction of Visioni Incontra, supported by a committee of experts. Directors are not required to provide comments or feedback on the submitted projects. Once the participant has accepted the official invitation, the project can no longer be removed from the official program.
The official selection will be announced at the press conference (July 2026). It is strictly forbidden to communicate the selection to third parties before this date, except for specific exceptions provided by the Direction.
All instructions regarding materials will be provided to the selected projects by the Programming Office, following confirmation of participation in Visioni Incontra.
Upon confirmation – which includes an industry fee of €50 covering accreditations, training, and networking services – the organizers will contact the project teams for a mandatory pitch preparation session with the Head of Industry. Practical guidelines on presentation formats and required materials will be provided during this session.
The projects selected for the Visioni Incontra Contest will be presented by the director and the producer during a pitching session in front of an audience of accredited industry professionals. The presentation will take place in Italian for Italian projects with simultaneous translation into English, and in English for international projects. Each pitching session will include a dedicated Q&A (questions and answers) moment. The total duration of the presentation for final development projects will be 12 minutes (including Q&A); the total duration of the presentation for work in progress projects will be 15 minutes (including Q&A).
The producer and director of the selected projects must guarantee their participation in Visioni Incontra for the entire duration of the event. Accreditation is free for a maximum of two team members (director and producer) presenting the project. Additional accreditations for professionals linked to the project can be purchased on the dedicated online page.
Decisions regarding programming (sections, times, and locations) are the exclusive competence of the Direction and are to be considered definitive and final.
Visioni Incontra will publish a digital catalogue, downloadable in PDF from the website, of the selected projects to be presented. This catalogue will be password-protected and available only to professionals accredited to the event. Furthermore, Visioni Incontra offers projects the possibility to remain available on-demand on the Visioni dal Mondo platform, with a password reserved for accredited professionals, for 30 days after the conclusion of the Festival. This will allow decision makers and potential financiers to view projects and organize meetings with directors and producers even after the Festival.
During the Industry days, Visioni Incontra will organize and manage one-to-one meetings between producers and directors of selected projects and industry professionals who have shown interest. While the goal is to organize as many relevant meetings as possible for all selected projects, Visioni Incontra cannot guarantee a specific number of appointments.
General Rules
These regulations are drawn up in Italian and English. In case of divergent interpretations, the Italian version shall prevail.
The request for admission to Visioni Incontra implies unconditional acceptance of these regulations. In the event of technical problems during the screening, Visioni Incontra will not be held responsible for any “immaterial” losses suffered by the director, producer, or distributor. It is the responsibility of producers, distributors, directors, authors, and other subjects presenting the project to guarantee that they are legitimately authorized to register the project for Visioni Incontra.
By registering their project for selection through the call, the participant declares themselves to be the holder of all copyrights relating to the project (including any parts of co-authors who do not intend to participate), including rights to any copyrighted materials included in the project. The Festival reserves the right to disqualify any project containing unauthorized copyrighted material.
The Direction is the only competent authority to make decisions regarding matters not provided for in the regulations. For any dispute, the Court of Milan will be competent.
Hospitality
Visioni Incontra offers hotel accommodation for one or two nights for the director and producer of each selected project (if not residing in Milan and its province) at the hotel affiliated with the Festival.
Details regarding the length of stay, dates, and any travel benefits (where provided) will be communicated by the Programming Office at the same time as the official notification of selection. Any needs for additional rooms for team members or for extended stays can be managed by taking advantage of special rates, subject to availability check with the Festival’s Hospitality Office and with costs borne by the applicant.
Only the tourist tax is charged to the guest and must be settled directly at the hotel.
After the selection, the Festival will provide all information regarding accommodation arrangements; hospitality confirmation must be confirmed by those concerned no later than the terms indicated in the invitation letter.