Visions in motion: a dialogue between cinema and design

Florence, September 19, 2025

Cinema is made of images that know how to tell stories, convey emotions, and open up possible worlds. Graphic design, in the same way, has the power to transform concepts into immediate and engaging visual signs. When these two languages meet, a fertile and surprising dialogue comes to life. It is precisely within this space of exchange that the collaboration between Accademia Italiana and Sentiero Film Factory takes shape — the international short film festival that brings directors and authors from all over the world to the heart of Florence.

The festival, now in its 5th edition, promotes international short films by giving space to both emerging and established directors, fostering meetings and creativeexchanges. Thanks to its dynamic and international approach, it serves as a point of reference for independent cinema and a unique opportunity for direct interaction between young talents and professional filmmakers.

The students of the Master’s program in Graphic Design are taking part in a unique educational journey: three dedicated sessions with the festival’s guest directors, during which they are immersing themselves in the heart of the creative process that precedes the making of a short film. The outcome of these meetings will be the creation of pitch decks: brief and incisive presentations through which the filmmakers convey their ideas, condensing the vision of a project into just a few minutes of effective and direct storytelling. These pitch decks will be presented on the final day of the festival.

The future designers have not been mere spectators: they have actively contributed to the development of the pitch decks, working side by side with the directors to translate their stories into an immediate and communicative visual language. An exercise that has combined graphic design skills with storytelling abilities, encouraging them to think in images and to explore new and transversal expressive solutions.

For the students, the experience with Sentiero Film Factory represents much more than a creative workshop: it is an opportunity to engage with an international context, to experience the rhythm of independent cinema, and to face challenges that require quick thinking, synthesis, and vision. A step that enriches their academic journey and opens up new perspectives on the dialogue between design and the audiovisual world.