An “enormous edition, a wonderful programme, a selection for all tastes”, is how the 18th Rome Film Fest has been described by Gian Luca Farinelli, the chair of the Rome Cinema Foundation who introduced the newest edition of the Roman gathering Friday at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, before handing over to the festival’s artistic director Paola Malanga. The event is set to last a day longer this year (running 18 – 29 October), unfolding in various locations across the city and hosting screenings, meetings and discussions on the future of film, all the while maintaining its beating heart at the Auditorium.

The lists of meetings and jury members are yet to be confirmed (they’ll be announced over the coming days, as will additional titles in the selection), but in the meantime, the Progressive Cinema Competition line-up is as follows: 18 international titles will be battling it out for victory, whether fiction films, documentaries or animations. The first out of the traps will be C’è ancora domani [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], actress Paola Cortellesi’s directorial debut set in working class Rome of the late 1940s. We’ll then go from Un amor [+lire aussi :
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interview : Isabel Coixet
fiche film] by Spain’s Isabel Coixet to Nicolas Boukhrief’s social drama Like a Son, via Joachim Lafosse’s A Silence [+lire aussi :
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interview : Joachim Lafosse
fiche film], Leo Leigh’s (Mike Leigh’s son) directorial debut Sweet Sue [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] and other first works along the lines of Achilles [+lire aussi :
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interview : Farhad Delaram
fiche film] by Farhad Delaram, After the Fire [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Mehdi Fikri, The Hypnosis [+lire aussi :
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interview : Asta Kamma August
interview : Ernst De Geer
fiche film] by Sweden’s Ernst De Geer and Toll [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Carolina Markowicz. Germany will offer up Asli Özge’s Black Box [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], painting a paranoid portrait of society, co-produced by the Dardenne brothers, Bulgaria Stephan Komandarev with his Crystal Globe Karlovy Vary winner Blaga’s Lessons [+lire aussi :
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interview : Stephan Komandarev
fiche film], and another Swedish title in the form of One Day All This Will Be Yours [+lire aussi :
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interview : Andreas Öhman
fiche film] by Andreas Öhman. Hailing from Italy, we’ll see Edoardo Gabbriellini’s Holiday [+lire aussi :
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interview : Edoardo Gabbriellini
fiche film], which has just been launched in Toronto; Roberta Torre’s Mi fanno male i capelli [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], which is an homage to the much-missed actress Monica Vitti (read our news); and Teemu Nikki’s Italian-Finnish title La morte è un problema dei vivi. Final movies rounding off the competition are Fremont by Babak Jalali, from the USA; The Monk and the Gun by Pawo Choyning Dorji, from Bhutan; and The Erection of Toribio Bardelli by Adrián Saba, from Peru. The latter two films are also Oscar candidates representing their two respective countries.

The non-competitive Freestyle section, composed of free form and freestyle titles, includes Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal’s animation They Shot the Piano Player [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], the documentary Tehachapi, shot in a Californian maximum security prison by French street artist JR; Jeff Koons. Un ritratto privato [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Pappi Corsicato; and Fela, il mio dio vivente [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Daniele Vicari, about Nigerian musician Fela Kuti.

Standing tall in the Grand Public line-up, dedicated to films for large audiences, we’ll see Ferzan Ozpetek’s new melodrama Nuovo Olimpo [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], which is a love story travelling through time and across great distances; actor Michele Riondino’s directorial debut with solid, civil foundations Palazzina Laf [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], about workers on the Ilva steelworks complex in Taranto; the final chapter in the Manetti brothers’ Diabolik trilogy Diabolik chi sei?; actress Margherita Buy’s first work Volare [+lire aussi :
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fiche film]; Told You So [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Ginevra Elkann, and And the Party Goes On by Robert Guédiguian. Audiences will be treated to some unmissable series too, enjoying the first episodes of Suburraeterna, I leoni di Sicilia (directed by Paolo Genovese), Mare Fuori 4 and La storia by Francesca Archibugi.

The non-competitive Best Of section is making a return, showcasing films hailing from other international festivals which are considered to be the best of the past season. These include this year’s Palme D’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall [+lire aussi :
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interview : Justine Triet
fiche film] by Justine Triet, La chimera [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Alice Rohrwacher, The Zone of Interest [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Jonathan Glazer, Eureka [+lire aussi :
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interview : Lisandro Alonso
fiche film] by Lisandro Alonso, Firebrand [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Karim Aïnouz and Paul B. Preciado’s documentary Orlando, My Political Biography [+lire aussi :
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interview : Paul B. Preciado
fiche film].

Last but not least, the festival will be hosting Special Screenings of Kevin Macdonald’s documentary High & Low - John Galliano, about the brilliant creative director of Dior; Io, noi e Gaber [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Riccardo Milani, about the great Italian artist who invented Teatro Canzone; and Kripton [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Francesco Munzi, which is an idealistic continuation of the work carried out in Futura [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], alongside Emma Dante’s new film Misericordia [+lire aussi :
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interview : Emma Dante
fiche film], Francesca Comencini’s latest work Tante facce nella memoria, Kasia Smutniak’s directorial debut Walls [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], and David Gutnik’s documentary Rule of the Walls, which follows artists of all extractions and practices in Ukraine in 2022.

The final line-up in the festival is the History of Cinema section, offering up documentaries, restored films, and tributes to actress Isabella Rossellini and composer Shigeru Umebayashi in particular, who will each receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.