Article 1
The spirit of the Festival Mirabile Dictu is one of friendship and universal cooperation. Its aim is to reveal and focus attention on works of quality, presenting moral values, human virtues and positive characters, in order to contribute to the world evangelization and to encourage development of the film industry for this purpose.
Article 2
The 17th Festival Mirabile Dictu will be held from Tuesday 10th of February to Thursday 12th of February 2026. The films are screened for the Jury and qualified guests as cinema critics, Vatican representatives, journalists, film distributors, broadcasters.
Article 3
Only films (feature, documentaries and short) that meet the following conditions may be chosen for the pre-selection to the Official Selection:
• Films that express moral values and positive heroes.
• A selection is international if it presents films from different countries, including non-Catholic countries.
• Films whose dialogues don’t contain swear words, insults and blasphemies. We don’t accept films with explicit sex scenes and heavily violent scenes.
FILMS DURATION
Short films:
Less than 20 minutes, including credits.
Documentaries:
Less than 60 minutes, including credits.
Feature films:
Less than 140 minutes, including credits.
Unusual program lengths (longer or shorter than the specified ones) may be accommodated at the discretion of the President. Contact her at info@mirabiledictu-icff.com
DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION AND FOR RECEPTION
The deadline for sending the Application Form and the permanent link* for watching the film online is the 31st of December 2025.
MATERIALS TO BE SENT BY MAIL
SUBTITLING
The Selection Committee will accept films with the following characteristics:
• WITH Italian subtitles IF the original language is English.
• WITH English or Italian subtitles for all other original languages.
IF YOUR FILM IS SELECTED
You will receive an email informing you about the selection of your film for the final competition before the 20th of January 2026.
The list of the films in final competition will be published in the section “2026 Edition”.
Article 4
Once a film has been selected for the Final Competition, it cannot be withdrawn from the Festival program during the event.
Article 5
All films must be presented in their original language, with English or Italian subtitles. By “original language” is meant the one in which a film is or will be exhibited in its country of origin. It is for the Board of Directors to decide whether or not a film that does not exactly meet this criterion may participate in the Festival. All subtitling expenses are to be met by the film’s producer. Moreover, all films with dialogues in a language different from English or Italian will be subtitled in English or Italian.
Article 6
The Board of Directors and the President of the Festival designate the foreign and Italian members of the Jury as well as its President. Each Jury member votes by secret ballot. Decisions will be reached by an absolute majority of votes. The President of the Festival will receive Jury deliberations but will take no part in the voting. She will communicate in the website of the Festival the names of the winners. No person having taken part in the production or exploitation of a film in competition may be on the Jury.
Article 7
The Jury will award “Il Pesce d’Argento” (The Silver Fish) to the following categories:
• Best Short Film
• Best Documentary
• Best Director
• Best Film
Besides, a special prize will be awarded:
• Capax Dei Foundation Award, given to the most significative Catholic subject among all the Films in Final Competition.
Article 8
Films to be submitted for the Pre-Selection must be entered by December 31, 2025. The required support is any HD online media, with the related permanent access link*.
Article 9
All expenses related to the films presented to the Selection Committee with a view to their possible selection, are to be met by the film’s producers or relevant body.
All expenses for the online publication, storage and insurances are also the responsibility of their owner(s).
The films that will not fulfill these conditions will be rejected.
The Festival will inform only and exclusively the owner and the sender of the films chosen for the Final Competition.
Article 10
The President of the Festival “Mirabile Dictu” has the power to settle all cases not covered by the present rules and regulations.
Article 11
Participation in the Festival “Mirabile Dictu” implies acceptance of all the aforementioned rules and regulations and respect of the Application Form 2026.
Article 12
The film producers (or relevant body) of the films arrived in Final Selection will be informed about it before the 20th of January 2026 through email. It’s up to them to participate to the Award Ceremony, (that will take place on Thursday the 12th of February 2026) on their own expenses. A fix fee of 100 euros per person must be paid for the dinner, by bank transfer to the following coordinates:
Mirabile Dictu srl – IBAN: IT32I0200822700000100612739 – SWIFT/BIC: UNCRITM1D05
Article 13
In order to consider valid the Application Form, this list of Rules & Regulations together with the Application Form must be signed by the applicants and the fee of 20 € per film must be paid.
Should any dispute arise regarding the interpretation of an article in these regulations, their original Italian version is binding.