VIA’s 2026 Italian programme connects Rome on 19 September, Torino on 10 October and Florence on 15 November. For a filmmaker exploring AI cinema, these dates can become a useful sequence of experiences: watch work with an audience, try a focused creative challenge and return to a screening with more precise questions about how films are made.

VIA — Visual Innovation Awards publishes the season and links to each event. This guide adds a suggested learning plan for creators and curious viewers. It is an editorial itinerary; it does not imply a combined ticket, an official course or a requirement to attend all three.

The three dates at a glance

  • 19 September 2026 — Rome AI Festival. VIA lists Cinema Adriano in Rome, with screenings and discussion around film and AI. See the Rome event page for the programme and booking route.
  • 10 October 2026 — Prompt2Screen, Torino. The AI cinema hackathon takes place at Blox Space. Creator applications and evening audience access are described on Luma.
  • 15 November 2026 — Florence AI Cinema Night. VIA lists a curated evening for films, talks and exchange. Use the Florence event page and its official event link for final details.

Check those pages again before arranging travel. Different formats have different access arrangements, and the date of one event does not establish the venue, price or submission rules of another.

Rome: watch for decisions you can learn from

Go into a screening with one craft question. You might follow how a film introduces a character, how sound gives an unfamiliar environment a sense of place, or how an edit turns a series of generated images into a story. A single question makes your attention more deliberate without turning the evening into homework.

Write a few notes after the film rather than trying to document every frame. Separate what you observed from what you inferred. “The scene held on an empty doorway” is an observation. “The filmmaker used that pause to create anxiety” is an interpretation you can test in a conversation.

If there is an opportunity to speak with a creator, ask about a decision you can identify in the work. Questions about a particular cut or a discarded approach are easier to answer meaningfully than a broad request for the secret to making an AI film. They also help you understand how the person shaped the result beyond choosing a tool.

Between events: turn an observation into a small experiment

Choose one idea from your notes and test it in a short exercise. You could edit the same three shots in two orders, give a scene two different sound treatments or reduce a sequence until only its essential information remains. Use material you can legitimately work with and keep the exercise narrow enough to finish.

Save both versions. Write one sentence about what changed in your experience of the scene. You are building a record of creative decisions that you can bring into the next project, even if the experiment never becomes a public film.

This is also a good moment to rehearse your practical setup. Check that you can move files between your chosen tools and editor, locate the correct version and play back an export. That preparation gives you more attention for the creative brief when you reach Torino.

Torino: use Prompt2Screen to practise finishing

Prompt2Screen turns the focus towards making an original screen work within the event day. The official listing distinguishes an approval-based Creator Pass from evening Audience Pass access. Select the route that fits your intentions and confirm your place through the registration page.

For creators, the valuable exercise is deciding what a story needs when time is limited. Build a short list of essential shots, assemble an early edit and reserve time for checking the final file. Our Prompt2Screen preparation guide develops that process and points to the published schedule.

For an evening visitor, compare what the finished pieces communicate. Notice which openings orient you quickly, which moments remain memorable and where sound changes your reading of an image. You can learn from a timed creative format without having participated in the build session yourself.

Florence: return to the audience’s point of view

After making or closely studying a short work, it is easy to become preoccupied with how difficult an image was to create. A cinema audience meets the finished sequence. It does not automatically know the number of attempts or hours behind a shot.

Use the Florence evening as a chance to reconnect those perspectives. Ask what an image contributes to the film’s rhythm, meaning or emotional progression. Notice the point at which a visual surprise becomes a story development, and when it remains an isolated effect. These are useful questions whether you direct, edit, design tools or simply enjoy cinema.

Bring one unresolved question from your own process. A specific example makes discussion more concrete and gives you a way to compare your assumptions with another viewer’s experience.

Build a season that fits your practice

Attending one relevant event with a clear intention can be more useful than filling a calendar you cannot sustain. Start with the format you need most: a festival programme, a making challenge or a curated screening evening. Leave time afterwards to act on what you learned.

Keep the VIA programme as your reference for the wider season. If a hands-on day is the next step, explore [Prompt2Screen](/) and its official registration page. The through-line is simple: arrive curious, make specific observations and give those observations a place in your next film.

Sources & further reading

Updated 8 September 2026. Event availability and final details are maintained on the linked official event pages.

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