Open Call

Midway: between past and future

The theme of the first edition of Fiumefreddo Photo Festival is Midway: between past and future.

We want to face the inevitability of time by trying to bind it, as far as possible, to lasting solid points. Traits of discontinuity that tell current moment by inserting it in a frame of perspective, that renew the attention on what is still too precious to be lost, that trace profiles of possible futures by updating their suggestion.

The last two terrible, unpredictable and intense years clearly reflect the measure of turbulence: the only graft of unpredictability capable to ripply the linear flow of conventional time. The profound social, political and economic mutations call into question what until recently was the established theorem.

In this context, the photographer’s critical, creative and sensitive gaze must propose original and stimulating furtherances through stories that can provide unknown interpretations of the aforementioned epochal changes.

Therefore we are looking for stories of the past, present and future with a strongly emotional cut.

The jury

All projects will be viewed and selected by the jury of experts, formed by: Emanuela Mirabelli, Elena Vaninetti, Francesco Merlini, Alberto Prina, Teodora Malavenda, Anna Catalano

Award and benefits

The first 5 finalists will have their works published on the “Fiumefreddo Photo Festival” website and social channels and will be showed during the opening weekend of the festival.

The winner will have:

  • 500 euros in cash
  • Printing of the exhibition
  • Publication in the annual catalog of the Festival edition 2022
  • Display of the exhibition in the show space set up in external area of Castello della Valle
  • Presentation of the work during the inauguration ceremony and during the guided tours that will take place on 30 and 31 July
  • Visibility through Festival’s online and offline communication actions
  • Publication in a permanent section of the site fiumefreddophotofestival.it

Second place:

  • Special Award “Fotografare”: publication in “Fotografare” magazine and on the website fotografaremag.it
  • Visibility through Festival’s online and offline communication actions
  • Publication in a permanent section of the site fiumefreddophotofestival.it

Third, fourth and fifth:

  • Visibility through Festival’s online and offline communication actions
  • Publication in a permanent section of the site fiumefreddophotofestival.it

Deadline and registration fee

The works can be sent until 13:00 on 22 May 2022
EXTENDED DEADLINE: 26 MAY 2022

Registration fee
1 project: € 20
2 projects: € 30

How to send

Send a WeTransfer package to info@fiumefreddophotofestival.it containing:

  • The submitted work must consist of a minimum of 20 to a maximum of 30 photos (max 2000 px long side)
  • Text (bio, synopsis and captions)
  • The receipt of payment of the registration fee.

Download the complete rules

Get to know the Jury

Alberto Prina

Founder in 1989 of the photographic group Progetto Immagine, he has conceived and coordinates the Ethical Photography Festival since its first edition in 2009. As a reportage photographer and photojournalist he develops complex projects in the photographic communication’s field, multimedia and collaborative photography.

Elena Vaninetti

She was managing editor of YET magazine until 2020. She is half of Twenty14, a curatorial duo active since 2014 in Milan dedicated to exhibition projects’s  development and cultural events . Since 2020 she has been managing the Pananti Atelier exhibition space’s programming. She deals with consulting and training, she writes for publications and magazines in the sector.

Francesco Merlini

Francesco is an award-winning documentary photographer and coordinator of Prospekt Photographers. His images have been published in national and international magazines and his projects have been exhibited all over the world in collective and personal exhibitions.

Teodora Malavenda

She is photo editor of WE World Energy, a quarterly dedicated to the innovation and energy’s world published by Eni. She collaborates with artistic-cultural institutions, non-profit organizations and freelancers offering advice in the phases of production, management and promotion of the projects.

Emanuela Mirabelli

Emanuela Mirabelli is photo editor of Marie Claire magazine, where she publishes a great variety of works and a great variety of authors. She writes texts, she is teacher of a photo editing course and she is a member of international awards’s jury.

Anna Catalano

Founder and coordinator of Fiumefreddo Photo Festival. Documentary photographer and consultant in the communication’s field.