The Artistic Director Antonio Monda of Rome Film Fest today announced several sneak previews of the upcoming thirteenth edition which will take place from October 18th to 28th 2018. The complete lineup will be announced at a press conference to be held on Friday October 5th.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

Like every year, ample space will be dedicated to the Close Encounters with directors, actors and leading figures in the world of art and culture. The first names announced include:

Martin Scorsese | Lifetime Achievement Award

The thirteenth Rome Film Fest will celebrate Martin Scorsese, one of the finest figures in the history of the seventh art, bestowing him with the Lifetime Achievement Award that will be presented by Paolo Taviani. On this occasion, the American filmmaker, author of a remarkable series of masterpieces from Mean Streets and Taxi Driver to Raging Bull, from Goodfellas to Casino, from Gangs of New York to The Departed, from The Wolf of Wall Street to Silence, will take part in a Close Encounter with the public. In conversation with festival director Antonio Monda, Scorsese will review his fifty-year career and discuss a selection of clips from Italian films that have had a long-lasting effect on his life and his work. Scorsese will also present a newly restored version of a classic of Italian cinema, and have a public conversation with students from the Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”.

Sigourney Weaver

From science fiction to thrillers, from comedy to socially-engaged films: throughout a career that stretches across five decades, Sigourney Weaver has played profoundly different roles thanks to the combination of talent and acting skills that have made her one of the most versatile actresses in contemporary cinema. The list of filmmakers who have directed her, from Ridley Scott to Ivan Reitman, from Mike Nichols to Ang Lee, from Roman Polanski to David Fincher and James Cameron, is impressive. She gave memorable performances in the ‘Alien’ and ‘Ghostbusters’ sagas, in Gorillas in the Mist and Working Girl (which won her the Golden Globe), in Death and the Maiden and Avatar, the biggest box-office hit in the history of cinema.

Giuseppe Tornatore

The Sicilian director is one of the most beloved and award-winning auteurs in Italian cinema. His stories have reached beyond the borders of Italy: from the Oscar® with Cinema Paradiso to his nominations for The Star Maker, from Malèna to Baarìa, from The Legend of 1900 to The Unknown Woman, from The Best Offer to Correspondence, Tornatore has produced a universal language based on an personal style, suspended between nostalgia and illusion, intimacy and sensation. At the next Rome Film Fest, the filmmaker will take part in an encounter in which he will discuss with the audience his passion for the noir genre, between literature and cinema.

Pierre Bismuth

Pierre Bismuth’s works include exhibitions and video-installations presenting a revolutionary combination of genres and languages, from sculpture to painting, from collage to architecture all the way to music. The French artist won the Oscar®, with Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman, for the screenplay of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, considered one of the best films of the past decade. He later made his directorial debut with the feature-length film Where is Rocky II?, half-way between fiction and reality. The Close Encounter with Bismuth will be held at the MAXXI in collaboration with Videocittà.

Luca Bigazzi and Arnaldo Catinari

The cinematographer is one of the most important figures in the production of a film and over the course of the decades, has produced extraordinary “light wizards”, who have won great international acclaim. Two of them will meet for a conversation at the Rome Film Fest: Luca Bigazzi, who earned his place in the history of Italian cinema by winning seven David di Donatello and seven Nastro d’Argento awards, and Arnaldo Catinari, the cinematographer of films such as Light of My Eyes, La vita che vorrei, The Caiman, Tell Me About Love, The Demons of St. Petersburg, Angel of Evil.

Giogiò Franchini and Esmeralda Calabria

Because of its critical role, the theme of film editing has been one of the most highly debated in the field of film theory. The Rome Film Fest will bring two famous Italian film editors face to face: on one side, Giogiò Franchini, who has worked with directors such as Paolo Sorrentino, Jonathan Demme and Giovanni Veronesi and won the David di Donatello Award for The Girl By The Lake by Andrea Molajoli; on the other, Esmeralda Calabria, film editor for auteurs such as Nanni Moretti, Francesca Archibugi and Giuseppe Piccioni, winner of both the David di Donatello and the Nastro d’Argento awards for Romanzo criminale by Michele Placido.

SPECIAL EVENT

Notti Magiche by Paolo Virzì

The acclaimed Tuscan filmmaker – considered one of the greatest heirs of the commedia all’italiana tradition, who directed a series of box-office hits including Hardboiled Egg, Human Capital, The First Beautiful Thing, Tutta la vita davanti, Like Crazy and The Leisure Seeker – sets his latest film in Rome in 1990 during the summer of the football world cup. The film is produced by Marco Belardi for Lotus Production, a division of the Leone Film Group, with Rai Cinema, and will be distributed in Italy by 01 Distribution.

RETROSPECTIVES

The retrospectives of the thirteenth Rome Film Fest, curated by Mario Sesti, will be dedicated to two sophisticated exponents of great European cinema. On the one side, Peter Sellers, the multifaceted English artist, known for his extraordinary comedic talent and the lucid madness of his characters – first and foremost Inspector Clouseau – yet also a respected performer of dramatic roles; on the other, Maurice Pialat, the French filmmaker, winner of the Golden Palm at Cannes for Under the Sun of Satan, author of cinema that deliberately eschews labels, but always deals with themes and feelings charged with exceptional emotional tension. The retrospective on Peter Sellers will be held in collaboration with the British Embassy and the British Council, the one on Maurice Pialat will be organized with the Cineteca di Bologna and the Embassy of France.

FILM RESTORATIONS

Several important Italian films will screen at the next Rome Film Fest in a newly-restored version: among them, Italiani brava gente by Giuseppe De Santis. The filmmaker, one of the founding masters of Neo-Realism, winner of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 1995, evokes the tragedy of Italian soldiers during the Russia campaign in World War II. The restoration was completed by the Cineteca Nazionale.

A PORTRAIT OF MARCELLO MASTROIANNI

Between October and January, the Museum of the Ara Pacis will host an important exhibition dedicated to one of the symbols of Italian cinema in the world: Marcello Mastroianni. The exhibition, curated by Gian Luca Farinelli, is promoted by Musei di Roma, Cineteca di Bologna, Istituto Luce Cinecittà, Equa di Camilla Morabito.

THE FILMS OF OUR LIVES: NOIRS

Like every year, the Artistic Director and the members of the Selection Committee will present the films that influenced their passion for the cinema: after westerns and musicals, this year’s choice is the film noir. Each film will be accompanied by a conversation with directors, actors and guests. Furthermore, before each screening, spectators will enjoy short clips of the most famous and beloved film noirs.

THE ROME FILM FEST IN THE CITY

The Auditorium Parco della Musica has been the heart of the Rome Film Fest since 2006 with the red carpet and the screening venues. Like every year, the Rome Film Fest will extend to several other locations in the city, including the Auditorium of the Rebibbia Prison (Nuovo Complesso) and the Women’s Ward in Rome.

Following the success of the pilot-project that took place last year in Via della Frezza, the Rome Film Fest has decided to continue bringing its initiatives into the heart of the city, extending its iconic Red Carpet to a multiplicity of meeting points in the historic city centre of Rome. The project, organized by the communication group HDRA, will be called IT WILL HAPPEN ON THE RED CARPET and its goal will be to promote quality cinema and the city of Rome, bringing together citizens, tourists and international celebrities. The activities, which will focus on cinema, culture, new trends, fashion, design and fine music, will take place along a fascinating itinerary that will wind through the streets of the Capital, with the assistance and collaboration of institutions, merchants’ associations and private sponsors.