289 submissions in the section dedicated to environmental and social sustainability shorts. Actress Donatella Finocchiaro leads the jury awarding the Best Short Film prize. All finalist works will be screened in Lucca theaters and on the Festival Scope portal.
Sustainability through cinema returns to the Lucca Film Festival (LFF): as part of the event taking place from September 26 to October 4, the Tuscan city hosts the fourth edition of Lucca Film Festival for Future, the competition dedicated to short films addressing environmental and social sustainability.
Donatella Finocchiaro will chair the jury that will award the €1,000 prize for Best Short Film in competition. One of the most intense and recognized actresses on the contemporary Italian scene, cinema has always been a vehicle for social and civic storytelling in her career: a sensitivity that makes her a natural fit for a competition placing environmental and human sustainability at the core of the cinematic perspective.
Now in its fourth edition and open to directors and filmmakers under 35, LFF for Future received 289 submissions from around the world this year. Germany, Italy, Denmark, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Spain, Canada, France, and China are the origins of the ten selected finalist shorts. Ranging from fiction to documentary, animation, and experimental formats, the works offer a diverse overview of sustainability, exploring the environmental and social challenges of our time. The award is made possible through collaboration with Sofidel, a global leader in the manufacture of paper for hygienic and domestic use, best known for its Regina brand and sponsor of the Festival.
During the festival, the ten finalist shorts will also be available to watch online for free on the Festival Scope platform.
The Plots The short films explore sustainability through varied and distinct angles:
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“Seen From Here, I Feel Like Belonging” – Leon Emonds-Pool, Emilia Auhagen-Kuoppamäki (Germany, 2025): In 1971, a young biology student leaves a scientific collection incomplete in a landscape below sea level. More than fifty years later, a group of ecologists attempts to document that same environment.
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“Puturno” – Thomas Lattuada (Italy, 2026): A group of young people arrives in Castelluccio di Norcia, a town deeply scarred by the 2016 earthquake. In a place suspended between trauma and rebirth, they are forced to redefine the meaning of trust, responsibility, and limits.
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“Errabonda” – Emma Harris (Denmark, 2026): The relationships between soil, plants, and humans on an Italian organic farm become a sensory and visual exploration, shot on 16mm film using low-toxicity analog processes and experimental techniques.
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“Cyclone” – Michael Tang (Hong Kong/Taiwan, 2026): On July 1, 2022, as Hong Kong celebrates the 25th anniversary of the transfer of sovereignty to mainland China, Tropical Storm Chaba hits the city. The typhoon becomes a metaphor for a day suspended between history and natural upheaval.
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“365 Days Later” – Santiago Rodríguez Rodriguez (Spain, 2026): Fire unites people for a few weeks; oblivion isolates them for the rest of the year. A film exploring the contrast between solidarity during emergencies and the daily solitude of the elderly.
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“I Am Hero Awesome” – Po-Yu Chen (Taiwan, 2026): In a future world dominated by artificial intelligence, efficiency and stability are the sole criteria, and any deviation is an error. A courier on a routine delivery sparks a parable about order and deviation.
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“People Live Here” – Gabrielle Côté (Canada, 2026): Real estate speculation, smart skyscrapers, and revolt. When the system collapses, nature reclaims its space, and among the ruins, a solarpunk community emerges, choosing to live in harmony with the environment.
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“Calamite” – Estelle Carbonneau (France, 2026): An ecologist tasked with studying the biodiversity of a peat bog meets a local teenager. A story where nature, prejudice, and convictions are put to the test.
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“Le Cicale” – Andrea Grata and colleagues (Italy, 2026): Two friends — an Italian woman and a Moroccan man — film the woods, rivers, and ruins of a toxic factory in the Ligurian hinterland. One day, they discover an isolated farm where an elderly man lives alone.
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“Apes” – Benny Wang (China, 2026): Trapped in an ancient village on the border of China, a traveler’s disorientation opens up a surreal exploration of nature, existence, and the future.
The Lucca Film Festival For Future event — organized in collaboration with representatives from the 10 festivals of the “Film For Our Future” network and the EURASF network (“European Network of Science Communicators, Filmmakers, Film Producers and Festival Organizers”) — serves as an example of how environmental and social sustainability permeates the cultural and cinematic sectors. These topics are receiving growing attention and space, not only in dedicated festivals but also in mainstream events like the Lucca Film Festival.
All information is available at https://www.luccafilmfestival.it/
Photo/Lucca Film Festival
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