About us

The Hip Hop Cine Fest is a unique event in Italy and one of three of its kind in the world, two days dedicated to the cinematic world linked to Hip Hop as a narrative tool and code. Two days in which experts, enthusiasts, scholars and artists from all over the world gather in Rome to contribute to the preservation of the heritage of global Hip Hop culture, as well as to give voice to new artistic experiments and debates. 

Hip Hop as a tool for debate and social revenge are the key themes of the activities proposed by the festival among the main topics of discussion: Hip Hop Feminism, Hip Hop and Gender, Diversity, Empowerment, Hip Hop as a tool for art-education and civic education, Hip Hop and cinema.

The event has three fields of activities:

  • International cinema competition linked to Hip Hop culture, with screenings and final awards ceremony following three weeks of free streaming. sections: fiction (feature films/short films), documentaries (feature films/short films), video clips, series, webmedia
  • Conferences and seminars with international guests. Recordings of conferences from past editions are present on the Festival's YouTube channel
  • Supplementary educational activity with local schools through laboratories, workshops, screenings to raise awareness of hip hop culture through the audiovisual tool against school dropouts, to raise awareness of civic education and for youth empowerment processes (in collaboration with Questa è Rome, Ecomuseo Casilino and Popular Anti-Mafia Academy)

The curation and research work of the festival is appreciated internationally so much so that it has been defined as the sector festival that carries out the greatest scouting work in the world with over 35 countries participating every year. The festival has three spin offs: in Costa Rica (since 2023), in Almeria-Spain (since 2023), in Barcelona-Spain (since 2024). Every spin off takes the shape of the location where it has been setted thanks to the local directors and hip hop communities.

Moreover the festival has many curatorship activities in Italy and abroad, among which we mention Holland, for four years the collaboration with The Notorious IBE (famous break dance festival which will hold its 26th edition in 2025), and Colombia in which it has participated for a year at Hip Hop Al Parque, the largest Hip Hop festival in Latin America which will reach its 26th edition in 2025.