What's cooking at Roma Fest 6th edition?

Fifteen films in competition for the Official Selection of the sixth edition of the International Rome Film Festival (27th October - 4th November) featuring productions from all over the world.  Among many others, the scheduled films include Hotel Lux by Leander Haußmann, Babycall by Pål Sletaune, Hysteria by Tanya Wexler, Poongsan by Juhn Jaihong, The Eye of the Storm by Fred Schepisi with Geoffrey Rush and Charlotte Rampling, Une vie meilleure by Cédric Kahn with Guillaume Canet, Magic Valley by Jaffe Zinn, Un Cuento Chino by Sebastián Borensztein and La Femme du cinquième by Pawel Pawlikowski with Ethan Hawke and Kristin Scott Thomas.

 

There are four Italian films in competition: La kryptonite nell borsa by Ivan Cotroneo, with Valeria Golino, Cristiana Capotondi and Luca Zingaretti, Il cuore grande delle ragazze by Pupi Avati with Cesare Cremonini and Micaela Ramazzotti, Il mio domani by Marina Spada with Claudia Gerini, Il paese delle spose infelici by Pippo Mezzapesa.

 

The Lady by Luc Besson with Michelle Yeoh and Daniel Thewlis, a film out of competition in the Official Selection, will open the Festival. While the digitally restored 4K version of Breakfast at Tiffany's, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the film's public screening, will be the final event of the Festival. 

 

The Official Selection out of competition films include Mon pire cauchemar by Anne Fontaine with Isabelle Huppert, A Few Best Man, by Stephan Elliott, with Olivia Newton-John, Too Big to Fail, the TV film directed by Oscar® Prize winner Curtis Hanson, produced by HBO with an exceptional cast: William Hurt, Paul Giamatti, Bill Pullman, Cynthia Nixon, James Woods and Topher Grace. A mention must also go to the films by Italian directors Someday This Pain will be Useful to You by Roberto Faenza and L'industriale by Giuliano Montaldo with Pierfrancesco Favino and Carolina Crescentini.

 

The films in competition in the Official Selection will be judged by an international jury. The Oscar® prize winner Ennio Morricone will be the Jury President assisted by director Susanne Bier, the étoile Roberto Bolle, the English actress, director and author Carmen Chaplin, the producer David Putnam, the actress Debra Winger. The jury members will award the Marc'Aurelio Prize for the Best Film, the Marc'Aurelio Grand Jury Prize, the Marc'Aurelio Jury Prize for Best actress and Best actor.

 

The Festival also expects all spectators to take part in awarding the BNL Audience Prize for Best film. Furthermore, thanks to the collaboration with the Department of Youth of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Marc'Aurelio Debut Prize will be awarded to the director of the best first film included in any of the Festival sections.

 

The Special Events program, shared by all the various sections, once again relates to projects that are not entirely focused on being screened but instead involve performances, a mingling of different genres and must consequently not be pinned down to strict preview regulations. Wim Wenders for example will meet audiences to introduce his acclaimed Pina (based on choreographer Pina Bausch), and Totò 3D, by Mario Mattioli, released in 1953.

 

The Extra section includes 12 documentaries which will compete for the Marc'Aurelio Prize for best documentary assigned by a special jury headed by director Francesca Comencini, 7 documentaries and 5 out of competition feature filmS. Among the most long-awaited events in this section there is the Cinema Lesson to be held by Michael Mann, following in the footsteps of the many celebrated directors and actors who over the course of the years have taken part in the Extra section (the Coen brothers, Terrence Malick, Francis Ford Coppola and John Landis, Al Pacino and Meryl Streep) along with the Duets which this year will feature Sergio Castellitto and Penelope Cruz, Valeria Solarino and Vinicio Marchioni, Sergio Rubini and Riccardo Scarmarcio. Furthermore, the section program also offers a space dedicated to Videoart, organized in collaboration with the MAXXI Museum and the CortoArteCircuito association, while the Casa del Cinema will host Off Doc, a showcase which will take a look at the documentary in its various guises (enquiry, essay, reportage, anecdote, docufiction, mockumentary). 

 

Alice nella città, the Festival sector for the young has 14 competing films including Little Glory by Vincent Lannoo with Cameron Bright, a young Canadian actor previously seen in the Twilight saga,the wheelchair road movie Hasta la vista by Geoffrey Enthoven and Kokurikozaka kara, the second film by Goro Miyazaki, produced by the Studio Ghibli with a screenplay by Hayao Miyaizaki. Out of competition The Lion King in 3D, the film that has contributed to the rebirth of the Walt Disney Studios cartoons and stands among the largest box office hits of all times for cartoon films.

 

In the wake of the success of the previous years, the Official Selection and Alice nella città will also organize an event involving books and film, to mark the release of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I. In the context of the collaboration between the two sections, the Festival will also be screening The Adventures of Tintin a 3D film in which Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson work side by side, the first as director and the second as producer, and the first sequences of his new film chosen by director Martin Scorsese , Hugo Cabret, and discussed by two exceptional guests: the young lead, Asa Butterfield, and the writer best loved by American youth, Brian Selznick. Finally La guerre des boutons, by Christophe Barratier. 

 

The Focus section this year trains its eye on Britain. Directors Terence Davies, David Hare and Michael Winterbottom are three of the directors of the seven films screened in the showcase. The retrospective "Punks & Patriots" has been selected by seven British artists including Tilda Swinton, Michael Nyman and Hanif Kureishi. A world famous video installation artist, Douglas Gordon will feature his exhibition "Raise the dead". The red carpet on this occasion is the creation of artist Simon J. Lycett, who has collaborated with the British Royal Family for many years.

 

The sixth edition of the Festival will award the Marc'Aurelio Actor's Prize to Richard Gere, the Hollywood star who has fought so many humanitarian battles and has played the lead in many popular films such as  American Gigolo, An Officer and a Gentleman, Pretty Woman as well as performing for great film directors including Robert Altman, Akira Kurosawa, Sidney Lumet, Francis Ford Coppola, Todd Haynes and Terrence Malick. Richard Gere will introduce the screening of Days of Heaven, Terrence Malick's wonderful second film which provided Gere with his first lead role. This event was made possible thanks to the collaboration with Universal Pictures Italia Home Entertainment who granted permission for the Paramount Picture release to be screened.

 

 

INTERNATIONAL FILM MARKET AND PROJECT FACTORY

Since 2006, producers, buyers and sellers from all over the world meet in October in Rome for the International Film Market (The Business Street) and the Project Factory (New Cinema Network), the platform that the International Rome Film Festival dedicates to the film industry.

The International Film Market offers an opportunity for meetings between buyers and sellers with professional screenings, a video-library and a selection of previews of the most recent national and international productions. In the wake of the success of the previous edition, the Industry Book initiative will also be taking place, a day of meetings designed to strengthen the relationship between publishers and audio-visual producers.  Additionally, professionals and experts will be invited to discuss the most current issues concerning the international industry in an intense series of workshops, presentations and round tables. The Project Factory is the Festival's co-production market designed to support new independent cinema, where the authors - selected among the most interesting international talent on the independent film scene - are provided with an ideal opportunity to pitch their new products and come into contact with important figures in the European film industry.

 

EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS

The International Rome Film Festival celebrates a great Italian film master, Pier Paolo Pasolini, with the exhibitions "P.P.P. A celebration of Pier Paolo Pasolini" commissioned to the genius of Dante Ferretti and Francesca Loschiavo and by images from his films. Equa is responsible for the event concept which is produced by the Cineteca (Film Archive) of Bologna. 

 

A photo exhibition will on the other hand pay homage to Monica Vitti on her eightieth birthday. The exhibition, produced by the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and Cinecittà Luce, revisits the sensational career of one of the greatest actresses and performers of Italian cinema.

 

For the fiftieth anniversary of Breakfast at Tiffany's, Rome celebrates Audrey Hepburn with an exhibition/tribute that is designed to collect funds for the Unicef project to combat infant mortality promoted by the Cultural Policy and Historic Centre Cultural Heritage Office for Roma Capitale, Audrey Hepburn's Children's Fund and Unicef/Friends of Audrey, organization and museum services provided by Zètema Cultural Project. 

 

To mark the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy, the Festival is promoting a journey through Italy's national identity. Thirty years after the death of the director Mario Camerini, there will be first presentation of the silent film Rotaie by Mario Camerini in the version restored by the Fondazione Cineteca Italiana of Milano and a tribute to director Liliana Cavani with the screening of the restored copy of I cannibali. The program also includes a showcase entitled "Italian Decameron" which will address the issue of Italian identity as it transpires from its film production. The ten films will be screened at the Casa del Cinema in collaboration with the Fondazione Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia - National Film Archive. Two films will be screened each evening, separated by a live  "duel" between two historians, two social analysts, two writers, journalists or film-makers who will involve a testimonial present in the film hall, either the director or one of the leading actors of the film being screened or in any case someone connected to the film or its issues. Finally, the Auditorium Parco della Musica will host the exhibition "Viva l'Italia! The Risorgimento on the film set", set and backstage photos from the triumphant and epic Blasetti film on the Risorgimento 1860 (1934) and from the more problematic and puzzling Noi credevamo by Mario Martone (2010). The photos were acquired from the Historic Film Archive/AFE (Rome), Franco Bellomo, Centre for Film of the Town of Cesena, Bologna Film Archive, National Museum of Cinema (Turin), Associated Reporters (Rome).

 

Like every year, the unique atmosphere of the International Rome Film Festival will spread to the whole city: the capital will be brimming with initiatives dedicated to cinema organized in some of the city's unbelievable sites, its cultural institutions and its many cultural  associations.

The Elsa Morante Cultural Centre, managed by the Zètema culture project, during the Festival period will host the "Young Italian Film-maker Showcase", organized by the Department of Youth of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers with the Fondazione Cinema per Roma. The initiative is designed for the benefit of young independent cinema, which often has great difficulty in distributing and getting audiences to see their creative results, and aims to provide the most worthwhile films with greater visibility.   

During the week prior to the Festival, the Casa del Jazz will host the University Short Film Festival, an event promoted by iUniversity with the support of the mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, the Department for Cultural Policies of the Rome Council, Dino Gasperini and his Manager for University Relations, Marco Siclari, in collaboration with Fondazione Cinema per Roma. The initiative provides students with the opportunity to test their creativity by creating a work on the theme "The value of life". The winning short and the ten top ranked works will be presented at an event during the Festival.

Even the The MAXXI - National Museum of XXI Century Arts will be one of the spaces that will play an important part during the sixth edition with a whole series of events. The University of Tel Aviv (TAU) together with the Association "Friends of Tel Aviv University", will present a series of short films at the MAXXI produced by the students of the Film and Television School. The same space will finally host the collective exhibition by the Otolith Group.     

 

The Festival once again underwrites its Social and Environmental commitment through its collaboration with Amref, A.N.G.E.L.S., Enel Cuore, Fondazione Sigma-Tau, Lifegate Radio, Save the Children, Telethon, Unicef and Wwf. Furthermore, as happened for the previous edition, thanks to the collaboration with Consequenze, access to the screenings is guaranteed for the sensorially challenged.  More specifically the Festival will provide special subtitling services and audio descriptions for the repeats of the Italian films in the Official Selection in the LOTTO Film Hall, seeing that the original language films are already provided with Italian subtitling.   

 

THE FESTIVAL

During the Festival, the 1300 sq. mt of the avenue that leads to the spectacular Cavea of the Auditorium, a kind of open air venue in its own right, is transformed into the one the most impressive red carpets in the world, a unique showcase for the stars of international cinema, but also for the spectators, who thus become leading players in the event.

Next to the Auditorium spaces there will also be a Cinema Village, a complex stretching over 6,000 sq. mt made up of marquees, pavilions and glass and steel stands specifically created for the event and its visitors.

 

The sixth edition of the International Rome Film Festival produced by the Fondazione Cinema per Roma will be held with the Support of the President of the Italian Republic. The event is promoted by the Fondazione Musica per Roma, Roma Capitale, the Rome Chamber of Commerce for Industry, Crafts and Agriculture, the Lazio Region and the Province of Rome. The Main Partner is BNL - BNP Paribas Group. The Institutional Partners are the Ministry for Youth and Aams - the Independent Administration of the State Monopolies, with the Patronage of the Ministry for Culture and the support of the Media Program in collaboration with the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia - National Film Archive, The MAXXI - National Museum of XXI Century Arts and Zètema - Culture Project. The official sponsors are Caffè Hag, Il Gioco del Lotto, Lancia, Istituto Poligrafico and Zecca dello Stato, while Alitalia is the Official Carrier. Cinemeccanica is the Technical Partner for the projection equipment (both film and digital) and Atac is the Eco Mobility Partner. Thanks to Lottomatica it has been possible to set up the LOTTO Film Hall which will guarantee approximately 700 more seats for the spectators. Once again the International Film Market is backed by Sviluppo Lazio.

 

Gian Luigi Rondi is the President of the Fondazione Cinema per Roma, Francesca Via is the Managing Director. Piera Detassis is the Artistic Director of the International Rome Film Festival. Roberto Cicutto directs the Rome International Film Market and the Project Factory. Mario Sesti, Gianluca GIannelli and Gaia Morrone are responsible for the Extra, Alice nella città and Focus sections respectively.