(by Francesco Gallo)The tenth
edition of the Rome Film Festival will open on October 16 in a
pared-down version without a competition section, jury or
opening and closing ceremonies and with only the prize assigned
by the audience, organisers said Tuesday.
The emphasis will be on quality, not quantity, the new
artistic director Antonio Monda said.
The programme will run for nine days, one fewer than in
previous editions, and will make do without the Sala Santa
Cecilia at Rome's Music Auditorium, the venue for the event.
However, the line-up includes important films such as
'Truth', the directorial debut of James Vanderbilt, on the
controversy surrounding a 2004 CBS news report that used
unverifiable documentation to allege then President Bush relied
on preferential treatment to avoid fighting in the Vietnam War;
and The Walk, a biopic directed by Robert Zemeckis based on the
story of French high-wire artist Philippe Petit and his walk
between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in August
1974.
Films by Italian directors Claudio Cupellini, Gabriele
Mainetti, Sergio Rubini, Paolo Sorrentino and Gianni Amelio are
also set to premiere at the festival.
In total 37 films will be presented in a single section .
In addition, festival goers will be able to take part in
'close encounters' with actors, directors, screenwriters and
other personalities including Jude Law, Wes Anderson and Donna
Tartt, William Friedkin and Dario Argento, Joel Coen and Frances
McDormand, Sorrentino, Todd Haynes, Carlo Verdone and Paola
Cortellesi, Renzo Piano and Riccardo Muti and Paolo Villaggio.
Late Italian actress Virna Lisi is the icon of this edition
and gives her name to a prize to be awarded to the best Italian
actress of the year on November 8.
There will also be retrospectives dedicated to Antonio
Petrangeli, Stefania Sandrelli and Pablo Larrain and to computer
animation studio Pixar.
The films have been chosen particularly for their capacity
to generate an emotional response, Monda explained.
He said it would be "hypocritical" to deny the difficulties
involved in putting the festival together given the time and
budget restrictions and the unavailability of the Sala Santa
Cecilia, which will have a negative impact on audience figures.
However, he said he had made Winston Churchill's saying on
pessimism and optimism his own.
"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The
optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty," Monda
quoted.
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