Today the 13th edition of Rome Film Festival, which is also the second one directed by Antonio Monda, opens and brings to the eternal city 10 days of great cinema. Monda said that, for this year’s choices, he and his team “worked on identity, quality, and variety.” A celebration that wants to be international, refined, elegant and for the city, with 38 movies from 31 countries and for the first time two world premiere will be presented during the festival, the first one is ‘The Girl in the Spider’s Web’ with Claire Foy, the other is ‘Mia et le lion blanc’ by Gilles de Maistre.
On top of the premieres, there are also plenty of events, ‘Close Encounters’ and retrospectives, like the one dedicated to Peter Sellers. Paolo Tavani will present a Career Awards to the brilliant Martin Scorsese, who chose 9 of his favorite Italian movies – including ‘Il Posto’ by Ermanno Olmi – and, in a long-awaited meeting with the public, “will explain why Italian cinema is the most beautiful in the world.” Another Career Award will be presented to Isabelle Huppert by Toni Servillo. Among the many celebrities attending the event, there will be Cate Blanchette, Sigourney Weaver, Dakota Johnson, Alice and Alba Rohrwacher.
As already announced, this edition will open with ‘Bad Times at the El Royale’ by Drew Goddard, and the closing movie will be ‘Notti Magiche’ by Paolo Virzì. Among the movie to stand out there are ‘Stanlio and Ollio’ in the biopic version by Jon S. Baird, and ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ by Barry Jenkins. Giuseppe Tornatore will talk about his 6 favorite noir movies, while Michael Moore will bring his political documentary ‘Fahrenheit 11/9’, about the 2016 presidential election and the Trump presidency.
Ilona Catani Scarlett