Agree the time and the handoff before writing
Use this as a VIA Editorial rehearsal guide and adapt it to the organiser’s instructions. Start by asking whether you are giving an introduction at all: being selected for a screening does not by itself settle who speaks, for how long or in which language. A host may introduce the whole programme, invite each filmmaker to speak or reserve the conversation for afterwards.
- Confirm the available speaking time and whether the host has already supplied your name, title or credits.
- Ask which language to use and how any translation will fit into the same time slot.
- Agree who cues playback and the words or signal that end your introduction.
- Check with the host how essential audience information, including any content advisory, will be communicated.
Keep these answers beside your draft. If the host changes a two-minute slot to thirty seconds, remove material deliberately instead of trying to deliver the same speech faster.
Build a short version before a longer one
Draft four moves: your name and role; the film’s title; a premise that stops before the main revelation; and a closing line that passes control back to the host. If you have more time, add one sentence about the intention behind the work. Save a production breakdown for a discussion where people have already seen the film.
Here is a fictional rehearsal example, not a quotation from a festival participant: “Hello, I’m Mira, the director of Night Window. It follows a night worker who starts noticing a light in a building believed to be empty. We wanted an ordinary journey home to feel gradually unfamiliar. The film was made with a small team working across images, editing and sound. Thank you for watching it with us.”
Replace every invented detail with your own verified information. Read the result aloud with a timer. Keep a second, shorter version containing only the identity, title and premise, so you have a usable fallback if the running order changes.
Let the audience discover the ending
Introduce the situation rather than explaining what it means. “A person receives messages from a closed station” invites attention. Explaining who sent the messages, why they matter and what the final shot proves can remove the discovery the film was built to create. Look for the first sentence in your draft that answers the story’s central question, then cut it.
Avoid telling viewers which emotion they must feel or apologising for the film before it starts. If a technical limitation is relevant to the conversation, describe the creative response after the screening. Essential audience information should remain clear and coordinated with the host; it should not be hidden inside a joke or an improvised plot explanation.
Credit people accurately and keep the tool list brief
Agree the spoken credit with your collaborators. A short introduction cannot replace the end credits, but it can recognise a shared production without presenting one person as responsible for every element. Check names, pronunciation and roles against the final credits and the programme copy.
If you mention AI, describe its actual role in one clear sentence. Avoid a sweeping claim such as “the machine made everything” when people directed, selected, edited or designed the sound. For a more detailed account, prepare a separate process note; the Prompt2Screen guide to explaining an AI film process addresses that different task.
Rehearse the room, not just the words
- Put your opening, the film title and the final handoff line on a small cue card. Use prompts you can read at a glance.
- Practise once while standing and speaking into an imagined microphone. Leave space for a breath between the title and the premise.
- Ask a listener to repeat the title and basic situation afterwards. If either is unclear, simplify the wording.
- Prepare a short written version for the host if you cannot speak in person. Confirm that they have agreed to use it.
At the venue, follow the agreed microphone and positioning instructions. Check how your words will reach the audience if translation or other access support is arranged. End with the agreed cue and allow the screening team to take over; an unplanned extra sentence can interrupt a carefully timed start.
Find the right context across the VIA network
The Rome AI Festival third-edition catalogue is an archive of the September 2026 selection, and Prompt2Screen presents the completed Torino edition and its films. These are useful places to discover work and check credited titles and makers. An archive listing does not establish a new screening or an invitation to introduce a film.
For upcoming editions, Florence AI Festival announces 15 February 2027 at Palazzo San Niccolò, while Milan AI Festival announces 15 April 2027 at Cinema Anteo, Milano. Check the official programme and your correspondence with the organiser before planning a spoken appearance. Those dates and the archive status were checked on 30 October 2026.
VIA — Visual Innovation Awards connects festivals, films and creative projects through the VIA network. For a proposed screening or filmmaker conversation with VIA, contact info@viagroup.ai with the audience, purpose and available time. Keep your spoken introduction aligned with the synopsis and credits in your film’s press kit, so the audience and host receive one consistent account.