Long before it became a site of cinematic inquiry, Rimini was already a city steeped in visual imagination. Nestled along Italy’s Adriatic coast, this seaside town is famously entwined with the dreamlike universe of Federico Fellini, who was born here and often returned to its streets, beaches, and characters in his films. Rimini is a place where memory and myth blur—where neorealist echoes meet carnival surrealism, and where the ordinary becomes extraordinary under the gaze of the camera.
From September 15 to 19, 2025, the city became a living set during Riviera Cinematica, a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) organized by Poliarte, an Italian institute of higher education specializing in design, visual communication, and cinema. Known for its applied approach and international outlook, Poliarte brought together students and tutors from multiple countries for a week-long creative laboratory focused on Cinema & New Media. Designed as a production-based learning environment, the programme invited participants to engage with Rimini as both a physical setting and a space of perception.
Conceived and coordinated by filmmaker Paolo Doppieri, the workshop was structured around four distinct audiovisual formats: Narrative Short Film, Music Promo, Docu-Essay, and Visual Poem. Each format offered a different lens through which to interpret the city—through fiction, rhythm, reflection, or abstraction. International teams of young participants explored Rimini’s layered geography: Roman arches, Renaissance alleys, postmodern facades, and the liminal spaces where old and new converge.