The central theme of the VIII edition of the Orvieto Cinema Fest is the sacred. The sacred understood in its broadest and most symbolic sense: what is inviolable, what holds a special dignity, what calls upon our deepest faith.

Since ancient times, the sacred has taken shape in mystical rites and ritual practices of civilizations throughout the ages, serving as a bridge between the human and the infinite, between the visible and the invisible, between life and mystery. From the East to the West, from African cultures to the Americas, the sacred has answered a primordial need for connection with the natural and cosmic environment, giving meaning and order to the chaos of existence.

Today, in a context marked by secularization, the sacred seems confined to the margins of society. Yet, it persists. It transforms. It resurfaces in new forms: in the worship of beauty, in respect for nature, in the collective ideals that animate our time. The sacred continues to be that “break” in the ordinary, that suspended space where time stops and the human being touches the absolute, the transcendent.

We ask artists to reflect on this intimate and personal dimension of the sacred. How does it manifest today, in our lives? Can it still emerge in silence, in an act of creation, in gestures that give meaning to our days?