The 2013 Rome Film Festival, which is now officially recognized by the FIAPF, was held November 8-17 and welcomed 120,000 spectators. A report on France's participation at this year's event.
The Rome International Film Festival is a competitive festival that was founded in 2006, originally named the RomaCinemaFest. While big American productions feature strongly in its lineup, around fifteen French productions and co-productions are included each year in the four main festival sections, including the Official Competition and the Alice Nella Città section (youth-oriented films). These films are presented in world preview screenings held in the presence of their creative crews. The jury awards six prizes, including the event's top honor, the Golden Marcus Aurelius Award for Best Film.
Local distributors are active participants, proposing films for screening at the festival, which serves as a launchpad for new titles.
Since its creation, the Rome Film Festival has offered a sidebar international film market dubbed The Business Street (TBS), which is set up in the Via Veneto. This market gathers together primarily European distributors, with French sales agents strongly represented. Since 2012, the film market has been held during the second half of the festival.
This festival continues to struggle to make its mark on the international film festival calendar, suffering from being held too close to the Berlin Film Festival, an event that attracts the big films of the season. This was reflected in the absence of any French titles in this year's Official Competition. French films were nonetheless well represented in other festival sections, with ten feature films included in the various selections and around fifteen French artists in attendance to present their productions with uniFrance films.
Official Selection (Out of Competition)
Au bonheur des ogres by Nicolas Bary
Playing Dead by Jean-Paul Salomé
Alice Nella Città (Alice in the City) Section
Competition
Juliette by Pierre Godeau
Turning Tide by Christophe Offenstein/Lucky Red
Out of Competition
Belle and Sébastien by Nicolas Vanier/Notorious
School Of Babel by Julie Bertuccelli
Special Events
Ma maman est en Amérique, elle a rencontré Buffalo Bill by Marc Boreal
CinemaXXI Section
Competition
Orlando Ferito - Roland blessé by Vincent Dieutre
Atlas by Antoine D'Agata
Because I Was a Painter by Christophe Cognet
Delegation
Nicolas Bary
Jean-Paul Salomé
Lucien Jean-Baptiste
Mélanie Bernier
Daniel Pennac
Vincent Dieutre
Marina Keltchewsky
François Cluzet
Julie Bertuccelli
Gabriel Abrantes
Christophe Cognet
Olivier Zabat
Jean-Claude Ruggirello
Antoine D'Agata
Pierre Godeau
Astrid Bergès-Frisbey
Noémie Lvovsky (Competition Jury)
