Every October for the past nine years, the International Rome Film Festival, or Festival Internazionale del Film di Roma, has taken place in the Eternal City and brought many stars and thousands of people to the city’s movie theaters.
Though it is a relatively young festival, started in 2006 by initiative of Valter Veltroni, the Rome Film Festival has quickly become one of the world’s most important, with huge media coverage and a world-famous artists in attendance.
Its success can be attributed to two factors. One is the importance and beauty of the hosting city: who would refuse an invitation to see movies and likely be awarded a prize in one of the most ancient, unique and marvelous cities in the world?
Another is the strong economic investment by the festival’s founders, who understood the importance of having a film festival in Rome and committed to create an event at a level with other established international film festivals.
Alongside the festival, the organizers have set up a film market called the Business Street on Via Veneto, the well-known avenue that every movie lover will recognize from “La Dolce Vita”. Business Street acknowledges the importance that markets have in any movie festival, and brings together stars, directors, and the economic players in the industry, to make contacts and create new collaborations.
Yet, what makes the Rome Film Festival unique and especially enjoyable is the great consideration given to the public. This is reflected in the ease of public access to every event and movie screening. And this year, for the first time, in the role assigned to the festival public as judge as well as audience.
This year the Festival decided to shake up its awards, and for the first time there won’t be a jury of experts (actors, directors, writers, etc.) who decide the winners of the festival awards, but rather the public. Common people will vote and determine the winners. It’s a little revolution that no one was expecting and that leads to interesting questions: are movies made for the public or for people from the movie industry? Are experts able to choose the best movies or is the public more objective in distinguishing a good movie?
The Rome Film Festival official program is divided into several sections: “Cinema d’Oggi”, a selection of young or elderly successful directors, “Gala”, a selection of some of the year’s most important films, “Mondo Genere”, a selection of movies belonging from different genres, “Prospective Italia”, a section that wants to highlight the new trends in the Italian cinema, and “Alice nella Città”, a section devoted to children.
The Festival award is modeled on one of the most recognizable symbols of Rome: it consists of a silver statuette of Michelangelo’s statue of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, which stands in the center of Campidoglio square.
This year, among the many guests attending the Festival, will be Richard Gere, Kevin Costner, the Spandau Ballet, David Fincher together with his two actors Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, Steven Soderbergh presenting his new TV series with Clive Owen, Wim Wenders, and Jake Gyllenhaal.
The festival starts October 16th and will run through October 25th.
If you are in Rome enjoy some good movies!
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