The Messina Film Festival – Cinema&Opera is a meeting and discussion place for delving into the relationship between cinema and opera through various artistic perspectives and trends. The Messina Film Festival is the only event in the Italian cinematic landscape that addresses this interaction and offers the public a diverse cultural program consisting of screenings, concerts, presentations, and exhibitions. The entire program is exclusively dedicated to the relationship between the Seventh Art and one of the greatest Italian cultural traditions, Melodrama. There are non-competitive sections and a section dedicated to short films, which is competitive in nature. The competition is thematic, and only works with a maximum duration of 15 minutes (including titles) are admitted, which must feature stories inspired by operatic works or their characters, or that include music or arias from operas, or a setting in an opera theater.