The Fuori dal Giro [Out of the Loop] competition was born in 2013 from the initial collaboration between Porretta Cinema and the Rete degli Spettatori, which helped the Association get in touch with young producers. Over the years, the search for titles and works has expanded and become more autonomous, but the start of this initiative was important.
The Competition has become an unmissable appointment of the Porretta Terme Film Festival, with the aim of promoting young authors, offering them a public and a stage where they can make themselves known, submitted to the judgement of the public, in a fascinating but also friendly challenge that sees them as stars for a day. An evening is dedicated to each guest author of the event, during which, at the end of the screening, they can present their work to the audience, who are free to ask questions to the director or the guest in question.
Fuori dal Giro envisages two awards given by two different audiences: regular cinema-goers and students who have been involved in an educational course before and during the Festival.
Viewers of the competition will be able to express their approval by voting after watching the film and participating in the debate with the author. The viewers will be able to give a rating from 1 to 5; the film with the highest average rating will be the winner of the Fuori dal Giro Competition – Audience Award and the author will be able to receive the award at the Kursaal cinema in Porretta Terme.
Similarly, the films of Fuori dal Giro are submitted to the judgement of the Jury composed of high school students. During the festival the young people are also involved in other initiatives within the activities of the Cinema and School section. At the end of the screenings the youngsters come together to decide which work to reward. The young people’s award is considered a Special Award which must contain a written justification. It can also be assigned to an acting performance. At the final ceremony, the award Fuori dal Giro Competition – Young People’s Jury, established for the first time in the 2016 edition, will be presented on behalf of the students’ jury.
As of 2022, the festival introduces two new features: an official call for entries is opened to help select the films in the competition, and for the first time, a cash prize is up for grabs for the winner of the edition. The regulations will be available directly on the website and participation will be via the “filmfreeway” platform.
Another novelty from the 2022 edition: the establishment of the SNCCI Critics’ Award. In March 2021, AFIC – Associazione Festival Italiani di Cinema [Association of Italian Film Festivals] and SNCCI – Sindacato Nazionale Critici Cinematografici Italiani [National Union of Italian Film Critics], signed a protocol that envisages the collaboration of the two associations involved in the promotion, study and analysis of cinema through the establishment of the SNCCI Critics’ Award to be hosted, with a jury of three SNCCI film critics, in AFIC member festivals that request it according to specific regulations. The Porretta Terme Film Festival is an AFIC member and has taken advantage of this opportunity to shine a spotlight on the titles in competition; in the 21st edition, it will host the three film critics chosen to represent the Union and who will decree their own winner. For the first edition, the three guest critics of the Festival were Luisa Ceretto, Massimo Lechi and Alberto Tristano.