Archivio Aperto is an yearly event concerning the rediscovery of experimental, amateur and private film heritage organized by Home Movies – Archivio Nazionale del Film di Famiglia of Bologna, Italy. An original archive programme that sees the return to the scene of small-gauge films, including Super8, 8mm, 9.5mm and 16mm.

Archivio Aperto was born in Bologna in 2008 as the opening day of the Home Movies archive. Over the years it has developed into a festival, with programmes and retrospectives dedicated to the biggest names in amateur cinema, home movies and found footage, from Ross McElwee to Gustav Deutsch, Jonas Mekas, Boris Lehman, David Perlov, Maya Deren and Péter Forgács. In 2018, it inaugurated the special section Art & Experimental Film, dedicated to Italian artists’ cinema of the 1960s and 1970s.

The 15th edition of Archivio Aperto is opening a competitive section dedicated to found footage films and archival reuse. This call is open to filmmakers, directors and artists. We are looking for works in any form and genre – documentary, experimental, video-essay, crossing over into fiction and animated cinema – in any format, medium and length. The selection will focus on the re-use of found footage, private film and photographic materials that can reflect on history, memory and lost subjectivities, suppression and forgetting which are an integral part of the lives of archives.

Download the rules and submit your film on FilmFreeway.