PARMA — The 14th Parma International Music Film Festival is underway from 20 to 26 September 2026 at Casa della Musica on Piazzale San Francesco, with free admission to screenings, concerts and special events. Organised by Parma OperArt APS with support from the city’s Culture Department, the week is built around one unusual prize hierarchy: the Grand Prix Violetta d’Oro goes first to the best film composer and soundtrack.
Artistic direction sits with Maestro Riccardo J. Moretti; Eddy Lovaglio leads Parma OperArt. The festival’s English and Italian materials describe an international competition for features, shorts, documentaries and a dedicated dance short section — all selected for musical writing as much as picture.
37 titles, Belcanto night and opening competition film
Local coverage in Inter Magazine says 37 productions fill an intensive Casa della Musica programme. A Belcanto Prize concert is listed for 22 September at 18:00, followed at 21:00 by the first competition feature, Giuseppe Tesi’s ROSAMARO, a gender-violence story mixing fiction and reality with Valentina Banci, Désirée Giorgetti and Michael Segale.
23 September mixes a morning short-film jury of about 120 students from Istituto Rondani with an afternoon public slate that includes Daniele and Emanuele Ricci’s dark-fantasy short Juggernaut, Paolo Fittipaldi’s Alice de la Tourette, Alessandro Garilli’s Il cratere and Giorgio Arcelli’s American Marriage. 24 September turns to documentaries from 15:30, highlighted by Le Stanze di Verdi (curated by Pupi Avati, directed by Riccardo Marchesini, with Giulio Scarpati), then Antonio Todaro’s Vicolo Cieco at 20:30.
Dance day, Milarepa and Violetta awards
Friday 25 September is the dance-video afternoon coordinated by Arturo Cannistrà, with names including Valeria Galluccio, Marta Renzi, Matthaus Bussmann and Tonia Laterza. At 17:30, Louis Nero’s Milarepa screens — an Italo-American reimagining of the Tibetan saint’s life with Harvey Keitel, F. Murray Abraham, Angela Molina and Diana Dell’Erba, cast in a dystopian future with a female lead.
Awards land on Saturday 26 September: a 17:00 concert of music by Francesca Soana, then the 17:45 ceremony for Violetta d’Oro (best soundtrack composer), Violetta d’Argento (best film), Dance Award and further mentions for short, script, performer and documentary. Festival contacts list info@parmaoperart.com and +39 0521 1641083.
For searchers looking up “Parma Music Film Festival 2026,” “Violetta d’Oro” or “Casa della Musica film festival,” the week’s free schedule and prize logic are now live while screenings are still running.