The Milano Film Network (MFN) is confirming its commitment to supporting independent Italian cinema with the 11th edition of the MFN Workshop, which represents the first fund dedicated to Italian feature films in post-production. The finalist works-in-progress will be presented and rewarded during the second half of Milano Industry Days - MID by the MFN on 18 November 2025, under the aegis of workshop curators Alice Arecco and Alessandra Speciale, in Milan’s Interactive Film Museum.

The MFN Workshop is an industry programme organised with backing from the Italian Ministry of Culture’s Film Department, the City of Milan and the Cariplo Foundation, with support since 2024 from BPER Banca and in collaboration with the Lombardia Film Commission, Luce Cinecittà, Cineteca Milano, LaserFilm, M74, Sub-Ti and Sub-Ti Access, Mnemonica, Carlotta Cristiani and Valentina Andreoli, Daniela Bassani, Greta Nordio, Start, the Trieste Film Festival and When East Meets West.

The call will remain open until 17 October (with a reduced, early bird fee available until 6 October), geared towards Italian feature films in the post-production phase (in rough cut form or at least 30 minutes’ worth of sequences), made by Italian director and presented by Italian production companies or by Italian directors owning independent companies. International co-productions are also eligible where the Italian firm is the minority producer, so long as they’re made by Italian directors. The full criteria for this 11th edition of the initiative and the online registration form can be found here.

Over the course of Milano Industry Days – MID#2, the finalist works-in-progress (of which there can be a maximum of 7) will be presented to an audience of Italian and international festival directors and programmers, distributors, buyers and commissioning editors. Each presentation will be introduced by way of a 30-minute screening of a working copy of each film, followed by a Q&A  session for directors and producers. The day will continue with one-to-one meetings and will end with a post-production awards ceremony, courtesy of the Milano Film Network and its partners.

Consisting of 5,000 euros put forward by BPER Banca for the best work-in-progress presented in the event, the BPER Prize is set to be awarded in this year’s initiative. Mnemonica joins the list of partners offering services in kind as rewards this year, awarding the Mnemonica Archive Prize: a bundle of services worth 7,500 euros, to be used on the innovative Mnemonica Archive platform. The winning director will also have access to a cloud-based professional archiving service which revolutionises the way films are conserved and distributed around the world. Last but not least, one of the 2025 MFN Workshop’s finalist projects will be selected and presented within the This is IT line-up in January 2026, in collaboration with the Trieste Film Festival and When East Meets West, thanks to a partnership initiated in 2017.

Titles which have previously been selected and won awards in the MFN Workshop, and subsequently met with success in recent years, include Real [+lee también:
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entrevista: Adele Tulli
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entrevista: Gianluca Matarrese
ficha de la película] by Gianluca Matarrese, which was selected to compete in Sundance as well as in the Visions du Reel Festival.