From December 5 to 12, 2026, Castel Gandolfo (Italy) once again becomes a meeting place for international reflection expressed through cinema, art, and the spoken word.
Following the great success of its inaugural edition, the Hallelujah Film Festival – International Peace Symposium returns with an even more ambitious second edition, dedicated to the themes of peace, dialogue, memory, and human dignity.
Cinema and the arts become tools for examining the present and looking toward the future—not merely forms of expression, but spaces of freedom, dialogue, and responsibility capable of challenging the profound transformations shaping our times.
The cultural touchstone for the 2026 edition will be Magnifica Humanitas, the first encyclical by Pope Leo XIV, dedicated to safeguarding the human person in the age of Artificial Intelligence.
This perspective gives rise to a vital reflection on the relationship between humanity and technology, on truth and freedom, on the future of work and education, and on individual and collective responsibility. It is a reflection that restores centrality to the human person and their irreducible dignity, in an era where technological progress raises increasingly fundamental questions about the very meaning of what it means to be human.
The 2026 edition also engages with the 60th World Day of Peace, to be celebrated on January 1, 2027, under the theme chosen by Pope Leo XIV: “Disarming Technology, Serving Peace: Politics as Preventive Responsibility.”
It is within this framework that the Hallelujah Film Festival seeks to strengthen its international vocation: serving as a distinguished meeting point for diverse cultures, sensibilities, and forms of expression, where cinema and art can contribute to a culture of peace while simultaneously addressing the major issues concerning humanity’s future. Following its inaugural edition, the Festival returns to Castel Gandolfo with a stronger sense of awareness and an even more urgent question: how do we safeguard the human as technology redefines the world?
