“An increasingly metropolitan festival, whose role isn’t so much to guide audiences as to offer as many choices as possible. A duty we have, towards younger audiences in particular, to help them develop a diverse and critical view of the world.” It was with these words that the president of the Fondazione Cinema per Roma, Salvatore Nastasi, kicked off the official presentation of the 21st edition of Rome Film Fest, which is scheduled to unspool between 13 and 25 October in the Parco della Musica Auditorium and across many other venues in the capital. As previously announced, the event will be opened by Paolo Genovese’s new film, Il rumore delle cose nuove (read our news).

It then fell to artistic director Paola Malanga to flesh out this year’s rich programme (150 titles from 55 countries) in greater detail, starting with the festival’s beating heart, the Progressive Cinema Competition. 18 films are due to battle it out in this section, six of which directed by women. One the most eagerly awaited titles is Giorni felici, directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli and based on Zuzu’s graphic novel, with Carlotta Gamba playing an ordinary girl who turns into a strange creature whenever she’s excited or angry. Another two Italian titles in competition are raising similar excitement: Mustang, in which Kasia Smutniak recounts the director’s long journey to build a school in the eponymous region in Nepal, and Brianza by Simone Catania, which is set in 2009 and inspired by a true story about a family-run gun shop weighed down by debt which soon becomes a battleground for the characters played by Fausto Russo Alesi and Paolo Pierobon.

Adapted from Christian Kracht’s autobiographical novel and starring Barbara Sukowa, Eurotrash by Frauke Finsterwalder takes us on a journey across Europe, while patriarchy is central to Dina Duma’s Skateboarding Is Not for Girls. Fruit Gathering by Aung Phyoe, which won Karlovy Vary’s Crystal Globe, tells of a love story between two textile workers, whereas female migration is central to Diego Luna’s fourth directorial outing, Ashes, which was selected in Cannes. Also hailing from Cannes are Ulya by Viesturs Kairiss, which previously won the 2022 Progressive Cinema Prize, Dua by Blertha Basholli, I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning by Clio Barnard, Yesterday, the Eye Did Not Sleep by Rakan Mayasi and Congo Boy by Rafiki Fariala. The competition also includes Danish filmmaker Mads Mengel’s directorial debut, The Guest, which stars Trine Dyrholm and which also claimed victory in Karlovy Vary; Sants by Mikel Gurrea, starring Victoria Luengo; Voilà, c’est fini by Gustave Kervern, and the documentary Closure by Michal Marczak. Rounding things off are two US titles: I Love Boosters by Boots Riley, starring Demi Moore, and The Life and Death of Wilson Shedd by Tim Blake Nelson.

Stealing focus among the feature film debuts on the agenda, which are in the running for a special award, are 7 anniversari by Sabrina Iannucci, starring Benedetta Porcaroli; Cambogia by Valerio Lundini; a world premiere of Clementine Orange by Lisa Forslund; Bloques erráticos by Thomas Woodroffe; The Patron by Julia Thelin; Lady by Olive Nwosu and The State of Us by Jake Harvey. Works in the running for the Best Documentary Award include A Russian Winter by Patric Chiha, The Secret Reading Club of Kabul by Shakiba Adil and Elina Hirvonen, To Hold a Mountain by Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić, and La stanza degli altri by Enrico Maisto.

Once again, the Grand Public section is set to showcase some of the most hotly anticipated international films of the autumn, including Klara and the Sun by Taika Waititi, starring Jenna Ortega; Elsinore by Simon Stone, starring Andrew Scott; A Talent for Murder by Anton Corbijn, starring Helen Mirren; and two world premieres: Le Fantôme de l’Opéra by Alexandre Castagnetti which stars Deva Cassel, and Me, You by Bille August, which is adapted from Erri De Luca’ work. The most interesting Italian titles include È andata così by Gianni Zanasi, Il ministero dell’amore by Giacomo Ciarrapico and Luca Vendruscolo, Noi, un po’ meglio by Daniele Luchetti, and Il profilo dell’altra by Francesco Bruni. Rounding off the programme, we find the non-competitive Freestyle section, made up of works which are free in format and style, and divided into Film, Arts and Series categories; the Best Of line-up, showcasing a selection of titles which have already turned heads in major international festivals; and, last but not least, tributes and restored works.

Javier Bardem will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, set to be presented by Paolo Sorrentino on the occasion of the screening of Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beloved, while this year’s Industry Lifetime Achievement Award, which honours key figures in the global film industry, will go to London-based producer Tessa Ross (Billy Elliot, The Zone of Interest, Ink, among other titles).