The Soundtrack Festival. Film music at the Triennale, from classics to newcomers.

Soundtracks . Often the defining scores of films that have made history. Soundtracks that exist and are highly recognizable, even independently of the story they accompany. And from November 14th to 16th, they will be on display for the first time at the Triennale in Milan . The first edition of the International Soundtrack Festival is called SLAM, or "Sounds like a Movie." It is organized and curated by the entrepreneurial company CAM Sugar and Triennale Milano, with a strong and essential artisanal and almost sartorial approach.

Caterina Caselli, Tommaso Ottomano, Lamberto Bava, Claudio Simonetti, Nicola Piovani, Walter Veltroni, and Emile Mosseri—pianist, singer, and composer—who is bringing his music to Italy for the first time: these are some of the personalities who will enliven the Triennale spaces from November 14th to 16th. The program for the first edition of SLAM is varied: talks, panels, and in-depth sessions, but also great music and live performances. It's a sort of custom: at the end of each festival day, Voce Triennale becomes a space for celebrating music: on November 14th, CAM Sugar Sound System presents a selection showcasing the label's archive of soundtracks; on the 15th, Beirut Groove Collective, a collective known globally for its vinyl sets that interweave grooves from the Middle East and Africa from the '60s, '70s, and '80s; and on the 16th, a DJ set by Kangding Ray, a Franco-German producer among the most influential figures in Berlin's experimental electronic music scene, who won the 2025 Cannes Soundtrack Award for the soundtrack to Óliver Laxe's film "Sirât." Throughout Sunday, silent films soundtracked in collaboration with the Cineteca di Bologna and Residenza Revelation will be presented and screened. All with the underlying theme of the world of soundtracks.

"In reality, more than just soundtracks, they're actually music that has artistic value beyond the images it's tied to," explains Alessandro Sugar, label manager of CAM Sugar and one of the driving forces behind the project. A project that features CAM Sugar, the "soundtrack division" of the renowned record label. "Most of the work I do concerns the label's development," explains Alessandro Sugar. "What we do is primarily recovering soundtracks. We have around 2,500 in our catalog, and half are previously unreleased. We start with the original tapes in our archive, restore them, and release them digitally, perhaps even in compilations, or on physical media such as vinyl or CD."

Further evidence of the fact that soundtracks are still a vibrant world is the fact that the Sugar Group's "offshoot" catalog is particularly sought after for sampling. That is, the reworking of song parts. These quotes take on a new guise and become part of more modern songs. "The music from the animated film 'The Savage Planet' is the most sampled in the hip-hop world," Sugar adds.

SLAM's organizational team is already hard at work preparing for the next edition: "The goal is to make this festival and the city of Milan a hub for young talent, especially those with an international reach and potential." Tickets for concerts, DJ sets, and screenings are available for purchase. Panels are free, but reservations are required on the Triennale website.