Biografilm Podcast Award
Because a podcast could be a film. Or viceversa.
Biografilm Festival turns the spotlight—or rather, the microphones—on an essential protagonist of contemporary storytelling: the podcast. And it does so with an entirely new voice.
The Biografilm Podcast Award is born: a prize dedicated to original podcasts that tell stories of lives and experiences through the evocative power of voice, sound, and imagination. Curated by Biografilm Festival with the consultancy of writer and podcaster Jadel Andreetto, the project aims to create an award that captures and enhances a rapidly evolving narrative form—one that builds worlds, generates visions, and fosters deep connections with listeners.
Developed in dialogue with Bio to B – Industry Days | Drama, the Biografilm Podcast Award takes its place at the heart of the Festival as a meeting ground for creativity, industry, and new storytelling formats. It strengthens the connection between cinema and audio storytelling, celebrating two distinct yet increasingly interconnected languages. Because today, stories are not only watched: they are listened to, experienced, and lived.
When?
On Monday, June 8, 2026, at 9:00 PM at the Biografilm Hera Theatre | PopUp Cinema Arlecchino in Bologna, the Festival will transform into a vibrant stage dedicated to podcasting. The evening event will feature live listening sessions, talks, special guests, and performances, culminating in the final award ceremony. The winners will be selected by a jury of industry professionals from among the submitted projects, offering visibility and recognition to the most innovative and compelling voices of the contemporary landscape.
The Biografilm Podcast Award is more than a prize: it is an invitation to discover and acknowledge podcasting as one of the most dynamic territories of storytelling—a free, accessible, and deeply creative space where stories come to life through listening and become shared experiences.
A new chapter for Biografilm—or perhaps we should say, a new episode in a Festival where stories find a home and new voices to tell them. Because every life is a story. And every story deserves to be heard.
Click here to reserve your free seat at the evening!
The Finalist Projects
Cazzotti in faccia
Cazzotti in faccia tells the story of Paolo Di Clemente, a pioneer of MMA in Italy. Across six episodes, it retraces forty years spent between the ring and the streets, through triumphs and setbacks, from underground fights to personal tragedies, portraying one of the most legendary and controversial figures in Italian combat sports.
L’eredità di Giancarlo Siani
The podcast explores the civic legacy of Giancarlo Siani, who was murdered at the age of 26 because of his journalistic work. After his death, his brother Paolo Siani preserved and promoted his memory, turning it into a symbol of civic engagement, legality, and the fight against organized crime.
Favolose circensi
Favolose circensi is a three-part narrative podcast that tells the stories of three nineteenth-century performers (Rossa Matilda Richter, Maria Spelterini, and Katharina Brumbach) who became unwitting pioneers of women’s emancipation. Through the circus, they gained independence, visibility, and freedom, challenging the social conventions of their time.
Listen the story: first episode, second episode, third episode
Finché arriveremo a Gaza
This podcast is a first-person narrative report documenting Patrizia Dall’Argine’s participation in the Global March to Gaza. Through her personal perspective, she recounts the days spent in Egypt, between waiting for the march toward Rafah and advocating for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza.
LAMPI – 2 agosto 1980
Lampi – 2 agosto 1980 is a six-episode podcast about the Bologna massacre, which intertwines micro and macro history through a personal perspective connected to the judicial case involving the author’s uncle. Unpublished testimonies, archival materials, and reconstructions of the legal proceedings give voice to survivors, rescue workers, and the victims’ families.
Mamera – La storia nascosta degli Jenisch
Mamera – The Hidden History of the Jenisch is a seven-episode podcast that reconstructs, through the story of Uschi Waser, the Swiss program Kinder der Landstrasse. The narrative weaves together personal testimony and historical documents to tell a story of discrimination and denied identity.
Soldati di sventura
The podcast tells the story of the First Indochina War and the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ through testimonies and memories of survivors. It reconstructs the role of legionnaires, including thousands of Italians, in a forgotten conflict and its human wounds.
Vagabondi delle stelle
The podcast by Claudio Morici tells the stories of 10 figures from art, philosophy, and science who experienced mystical episodes or altered states of consciousness, between visions and inner crises, transforming them into decisive works and spiritual journeys of inquiry.
The jury
MilleAlice
Her project stems from the need to tell her story in depth, while preserving the many different facets that define her.
Olimpia Peroni
On social media, she narrates contemporary life through stories from around the world.
Alessandro Redaelli
He directed Funeralopolis, Game of the Year (Best Film at Biografilm 2021), and Positivə, a documentary about 40 years of HIV in Italy.
Sara Poma
Sara Poma is a podcast author. She works for Chora Media as Head of Content and has released several podcast series narrated in her own voice. Her most recent works include La città d’amianto and Con gli occhi di Anna. In 2023, she published the book Il coraggio verrà with HarperCollins, telling the story of Maria Silvia Spolato, the first woman in Italy to publicly assert her homosexuality during a public demonstration in 1972. In 2025, she wrote and took part in the stage production Anni Settanta: terrore e diritti alongside Mario Calabresi and Benedetta Tobagi.
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