One of the most significant new developments to come out of Rome Film Fest this year was OzApp, an application devised and spearheaded by Ferzan Ozpetek which was presented within the festival’s autonomous, parallel section dedicated to young people and new film languages, Alice nella Città.

More than a straightforward social networking or scouting tool, OzApp was designed to be a digital ecosystem with the capacity to put aspiring artists, professionals and audiovisual sector operators in contact with one another. A platform where directors, actors, musicians and authors can showcase their talent, and a concrete space where producers, agencies and recruiters can find new collaborators and professional profiles.

“I’m fascinated by meetings which change people’s destiny,” Ozpetek explained when presenting his creation. “With OzApp, I wanted to create a place where those destinies could also intersect in the digital sphere. Talent can arise anywhere – you just need to give it an opportunity to be seen.”

Available on App Store and Google Play, the app is devised to make the entertainment world more accessible and participatory, breaking down the barriers which traditionally separate young creatives from professional circuits.

OzApp played a lead role in many of Rome Film Fest’s key spaces this year, ranging from Alice nella Città unspooling within the Auditorium Parco della Musica, to the Auditorium della Conciliazione and even the Sina Bernini Bristol Hotel’s Terrazza Cinema, which is an iconic film location and meeting place for authors, opinion leaders and protagonists working within the audiovisual sector.

The app was also promoted on the sidelines of the Film and Music Masterclass, formative moments in the festival and creative flashmob dances, as well as in every other context offering an opportunity to put young artists and aspiring talent in direct dialogue with the film world. In these spaces, the OzApp team gathered together testimonials, stories and video-interviews with people who dream of carving out a future for themselves within the audiovisual sector.

“I discovered OzApp through the activities organised by the festival,” explained young, aspiring actress Laura. “It was like finding an open door to a world which had felt unreachable until then. You don’t only showcase what you can do on OzApp, you also meet people who can really make a difference to your career.”

The positive response of Alice nella Città’s artistic directors Fabia Bettini and Gianluca Giannelli confirms the project’s alignment with their shared mission: to support emerging talent, to discover new languages and to build bridges between generations.

In the wider European context, OzApp is a pioneering example of interconnecting technology, creativity and inclusion. At a time when audiovisual industries are looking for tools to increase participation and to support the digital transition, Italy is proving itself to be a laboratory of cultural innovation.

Ozpetek’s project is perfectly aligned with a more accessible, participatory and sustainable form of European cinema, which promotes new talent and revives the relationship between the general public, authors and professionals.

OzApp offers the very real prospect of turning the discovery of talent into a shared, transparent and dynamic process where technology becomes a bridge rather than a filter. It’s a deeply “Ozpetekian” idea - humane, empathic and collective – which catapults Italian cinema into a new age of cultural leadership, in harmony with European values of inclusion, creativity and innovation.

The application promises to bring cinema into its very own era: an era of networks, meetings and of looking to the future: it’s here that stories start over and where new talent will find its voice.