Social Pitch Open Arena

SàFF – Social Action Film Festival launches the first edition of the SàFF Social Pitch Open Arena: a competition for third-sector organisations, social enterprises and social cooperatives across Southern Italy. It gives those designing social innovation in their own communities direct access to an audience of companies, foundations and impact investors, alongside a cash award and fundraising support.

Applicants are asked to tell the story of their project using the language of cinema — a logline, a director's vision, a production schedule — and to carry it, through a multi-stage selection, onto the Festival stage.

Mission

Southern Italy's third sector designs social innovation every day, often with limited resources and no direct channel to the business world. The Social Pitch exists to build that channel inside the Festival: a meeting point between those working in local communities and those who can support them with resources, expertise and networks.

Five partners, one alliance

The Social Pitch is the result of a collaboration between five organisations. Apogeo ETS, the association behind SàFF, brings to the Social Pitch the same vision with which it places the third sector at the centre of cultural production. ELIS Innovation Hub, an open ecosystem of large companies, startups and research centres, provides the ELIS One Square application platform and its own stakeholder network, which the finalists meet at the closing session. UniCredit, supported by ASSIF, guides the finalists through a fundraising mentoring programme. Fondazione MUTO, which supports scientific research, funds the €5,000 grant for the winning project. The University of Naples Federico II, through its Department of Social Sciences, offers the awarded projects a social innovation workshop run with its own faculty and students.

Six words, one project

These are the six words that give shape to the six days of the Festival, and they are also the areas an entered project must address.

NARRATIVE - Projects using cinema, audiovisual media and storytelling to portray communities and places, raise public awareness, give visibility to the third sector and drive social change.

CULTURE - Projects using art, culture and creativity as tools of social and economic regeneration, drawing value from local heritage and creating new cultural spaces in their communities.

CARE - Projects developing participatory welfare services, mutual-aid networks, neighbourhood services and initiatives that strengthen relationships, solidarity and the commons.

DESIRE - Projects for young people supporting education, guidance, employment and entrepreneurship, and tackling early school leaving and educational poverty — turning exclusion into opportunity.

VALUE - Projects combining economic sustainability with social impact, through social enterprises, inclusive supply chains and models that generate shared value for communities and places.

HAPPINESS - Projects promoting physical, psychological and social wellbeing through inclusion, health, sport, recreation and community experiences.

Who can apply

Applications are open to third-sector organisations registered with RUNTS (the Italian national register of third-sector bodies), established for at least two years and with at least one approved set of accounts; social enterprises listed in the Italian Business Register; and social cooperatives of type A, type B or mixed purpose. Applicants must have their registered and operational offices in one of the regions of Southern Italy (Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily, Sardinia). Applications from consortia or networks/temporary associations (ATS) are also accepted.

The project must already be under way or in development and not yet completed, must respond to a real need in its area, must run for at least 12 months from its start date, and must be consistent with one or more Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda and with at least one of the Festival's six thematic areas.

Projects that have already received funding from the competition's promoters or partners for the same activities in the 12 months preceding the application are not eligible. The project and the applying organisation must comply with the principles of legality, transparency, gender equality, non-discrimination and environmental protection.

How to apply

The application takes the form of a film development dossier. The Poster introduces the project and the organisation behind it; the Pitch tells its story, from the need it addresses to the results it expects; the Director's Vision explains why this project and why now; Production presents the team and the partners involved; the Production Schedule and the Budget set out timings and resources. Applications may also include optional creative material — a video pitch, a moodboard, a teaser.

Applications are submitted online only, through the ELIS One Square platform, with no entry fee. The full rules are published on the platform.

The programme

Selected organisations take the stage at SàFF – Social Action Film Festival across the three days of Open Arena, from 5 to 7 October, presenting their project to the Jury. Three finalists then reach the closing session on 8 October, where they present to an audience of corporate decision-makers, institutions and foundations for the final awards.

Whatever the outcome, every selected organisation receives a professional video recording of its pitch, free to use for its own communications and fundraising.

Key dates

Applications open on the ELIS One Square platform

26 August 2026

Applications close

11 September 2026

The 15 selected organisations are announced

21 September 2026

Open Arena - pitches before the Jury

5–7 October 2026

Closing session and awards

8 October 2026