Where Cinema Meets Design: the CDFA
The Contemporary Design Film Award was born in the heart of the Modenese Ceramic District, a territory where manufacturing excellence and avant-garde design merge into a unique industrial heritage responsible for 82% of Italy's ceramic production. Created as a special selection of the Ennesimo Film Festival, the award has evolved into a privileged observatory for exploring architecture and design through the lens of cinema, transforming local craftsmanship into a universal language.
Built on collaborations with figures of the calibre of Mario Cucinella, the CDFA now acts as a strategic and itinerant amplifier, bringing the ethics and aesthetics of Made in Italy to the world's most prestigious stages. In 2026, this mission reaches a new milestone with its arrival in London during the London Festival of Architecture, where the project will present the programme Framing Cities: Design Beyond Borders. In collaboration with the London format Site&Sound at The Garden Cinema in Soho, the CDFA will explore the themes of belonging and urban identity through a selection of its finest international short films.
The London chapter is more than a milestone: it is a cultural bridge between Italy and the United Kingdom, using sound design and moving image to connect communities, professionals and students in a boundless multidisciplinary dialogue.
The Wannabe Designers jury
The CDFA award will be decided by an exceptional jury: the designers of tomorrow. For seven years, the CDFA has built on its collaboration with students from the Industrial Product Design programme at the University of Bologna, creating a unique space for creative exchange. The award team meets the students for direct dialogue, where professional expertise and academic stimulus intertwine in an equal conversation between those who design today and those who will design tomorrow.
The journey culminates in a visit to the Marazzi facilities, one of the defining symbols of ceramic excellence in the District: a hands-on experience that turns theory into direct contact with the materials, processes and industrial vision that have inspired the CDFA from the very beginning.