The ninth Rome Film Festival, which kicks off this week at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, will include 1,463 films from 78 countries.
For 10 days, the building complex designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, will be hosting screenings, exhibitions, events, conferences and debates.
The audience this year will have a choice of seven movie theatres (Santa Cecilia, Sinopoli, Petrassi, Teatro Studio Gianni Borgna, Studio 3, Auditorium Maxxi at the National Museum of XXI Century Arts and the Multiplex Cinema Barberini).
Next to the Auditorium, the Cinema Village will feature pavilions and stands will also involve the area of Via Veneto, the street that epitomises Italian cinema, with the Rome International Film Market hosted at the Hotel Bernini Bristol.
The panels will be held at the Casa del Cinema in the Villa Borghese Park and at the National Museum of XXI Century Arts. Professional and institutional conferences will take place at the AuditoriumArte.
The official selection of the Festival consists of four sections: Cinema d’Oggi (Cinema Today) will present films by both young and well-known authors; Gala will select the season’s great ‘popular but original’ films; Mondo Genere (Genre World) will be a collection of films from various genres; while Prospettive Italia will present a survey of the latest trends in Italian fiction films and documentaries.
The festival will open and close with two comedies: Soap Opera by Alessandro Genovesi and Andiamo a Quel Paese, written and directed and featur-ing Salvatore Ficarra and Valentino Picone.
The Rome International Film Festival takes place between Thursday and October 25.