#RomaFF12 | David Lynch is the protagonist of a Close Encounter, “The Place” is the closing film

Forty years after the release of his first feature film, Eraserhead, the Rome Film Fest celebrates the genius of David Lynch by honoring him with its Lifetime Achievement Award. At 5:30 pm, on 4th November, in the Sala Sinopoli, the American filmmaker who redefined contemporary film with his visionary, dream-like style will be handed the award by director Paolo Sorrentino. For the occasion Lynch will also meet with the audience to look back on his extraordinary films, such as The Elephant Man, Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet, Inland Empire and the hit TV series Twin Peaks. Lynch – who will be on the red carpet at 5 pm – will also talk about the three films that have most influenced his career, including 8½ by Federico Fellini.
In Sala Sinopoli at 7:30 pm, the audiences can catch the closing film for the 12^th Rome Film Fest, The Place by Paolo Genovese. As the director explains, “A man is sitting at a table in a restaurant’s backroom. He’s always there, day and night, receiving people. Each of his clients wants something and acts out of a deep desire for something practically impossible to attain. Yet this man sees no obstacles. “No problem,” he says over and over, to each of them. There’s a price to pay, however. Who is this man who makes the rules? It doesn’t matter, since it’s the men sitting before him in that bar who will make their choices and accept the consequences. Men looking for miracles, who come back to report on how thing are going, weaving a tangled web in which all their stories overlap. To the point that not even this modest middleman can keep his poker face, in the face of so much humanity.” A parade of stars will walk the red carpet at 6:45 pm: Paolo Genovese, Sabrina Ferilli, Alessandro Borghi, Marco Giallini, Valerio Mastandrea, Vittoria Puccini, Vinicio Marchioni, Silvio Muccino, Rocco Papaleo, Silvia D’Amico, and Marianne Mirage.
There are two more Special Event screenings tomorrow night. At 9 pm, the Sala Petrassi hosts a screening of Spielberg by Susan Lacy. In this exclusive documentary, the great director steps out from behind the camera to open up about his directorial influences and motivations. Examining his impressively varied filmography, the documentary reveals how Spielberg’s experiences fed his work, highlighting familiar themes – separation, reconciliation, patriotism, humanity, wonder – that recur in his oeuvre.
At 7 pm, the Teatro Studio Gianni Borgna will be screening Da’wah, the film by Italo Spinelli selected by Bernardo Bertolucci. Spinelli and Bertolucci will be on hand to introduce the film, which brings to the big screen a Pesantren, an Islamic boarding school in Pasuruan Regency, East Java, Indonesia, where the concept of Islamic education is unique. The film narrates a typical day just a few days before Ramadan, when the boys go back home. 
The “Everybody’s Talking About It” section wraps up tomorrow with the screening of Promised Land by Eugene Jarecki, the multiple-award-winning producer and documentarian (Teatro Studio Gianni Borgna at 9:30 pm). Forty years after the death of Elvis Presley, the director gets in the king of rock ‘n’ roll’s 1963 Rolls Royce for a musical road trip across the United States. Set against the events of the 2016 election, the film captures a nuanced portrait of the American dream at a critical moment in the nation’s history. What emerges over thousands of miles is a parallel portrait of a man and his country.
At 6 pm, the Sala Petrassi will hold a special screening of Sacco & Vanzetti by Giuliano Montaldo, a fascinating blend of historical reconstruction and narrative filmmaking, in the version restored by the Istituto Luce Cinecittà. 
The Riflessi section sees two screenings on tomorrow’s programme. At 4 pm at the Casa del Cinema, the first of the two titles is Dalla quercia alla Palma. I 40 anni di Padre padrone by Sergio Naitza, which features anecdotes and memories concerning the film Father and Master by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani that won the Palme d’Or in 1977. The documentary features firsthand accounts by its directors and stars Omero Antonutti and Saverio Marconi, who go back to Sardinia and track down the original locations for the sets and the Sardinian extras, with their own recollections appearing here for the first time. An ensemble of voices, including that of Nanni Moretti, all linked by author Gavino Ledda whose book inspired the Taviani brothers.
Over at the MAXXI, at 9:30 pm, there will be a screening of Salvatrice – Sandra Milo si racconta by Giorgia Wurth: her loves, her triumphs, her defeats, her trials, her silences. The portrait of a woman we all think we know, but few of us have ever really understood: Italian actress Sandra Milo. 
At 5 pm, the Teatro Studio Gianni Borgna hosts a screening of the short film David Troll vs AMREF. The short film looks at that grey area where fake news and humanitarian organizations meet, with an odd character, David Troll (Paolo Briguglia), investigating their operations. Remo Girone, Paolo Briguglia, Lorenzo Lavia, Antonio Costa will be on hand to talk about the film, which will be followed by a documentary by the great filmmaker Werner Herzog, The Flying Doctors of East Africa, devoted to AMREF founders. 
Two films will be screened tomorrow in the “Italian School” retrospective curated by Mario Sesti and organized jointly with the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia – National Film Library in collaboration with the Istituto Luce Cinecittà. The Cinema Trevi will host the screenings of Salvatore Giuliano by Francesco Rosi and 8½ by Federico Fellini, on the theme “People need to know/The world is a party: let’s live it together”.
The Casa del Cinema will be hosting two musicals on “The Films of Our Lives” programme: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers by Stanley Donen (at 6:30 pm) and The Band Wagon by Vincente Minnelli (at 9 pm).
At 5:30 pm in the AuditoriumArte venue, the medium-length film We Are Here will be screened. Made by Cinemovel Campus with students from Norcia in Umbria – guests of the Rome Film Fest on November 3-4 – the film shows how the earthquake of 2016 has changed their perceptions, redesigned space and modified the very meaning of words. We Are Here is a collective effort that enlisted eighteen students from the Istituto Superiore “R. Battaglia” for a five-day dialogue on memory, identity and change that gives a group of teenagers their say, after losing their homes, school, and certainties overnight. Director and screenwriter Michele Rho, filmmaker Giuseppe Petruzzellis and sound-designer Andrea Basti guided the young people on this project.
The Rome Film Fest is back at the Teatro Tor Bella Monaca on Saturday, with a 7 pm screening of Tracce di Bene by Giuseppe Sansonna: the documentary springs from a lost confession by actor Carmelo Bene that has resurfaced, never before seen footage in which the artist chats with his friend Giancarlo Dotto, his words becoming the voiceover for an imaginary autobiography. A talk with director Giuseppe Sansonna and Barbara Caruso follows.
And at 9 pm at the Teatro Tor Bella Monaca, the film Del resto fu un’estate meravigliosa by Luciano Michetti Ricci takes audiences back to 1977 and the improvisations and provocations of a group of new comedians vacationing in a semi-deserted area. A sort of happening filmed without a script, that often takes its cue from the morning newspapers before setting up a skit. 
The independent sidebar Alice nella città will be holding its awards ceremony in the Sala Sinopoli (at 11 am) and a talk with Orlando Bloom (at 12:30 in the 3 and Google Cinema Hall), while the Teatro Studio Gianni Borgna will be screening Duck Tales by Matt Youngberg (at 3:30 pm). The Alice in Corto 1 programme, at the cinema Admiral at 3 pm, features screenings of the shorts Adavede by Alain Parroni, Il cane by Matteo Delai, Fine d’estate by Paolo Strippoli, Sweetheart by Marco Spagnoli, Figli maestri by Simone Bucri, and more.
Next up for Alice nella città, at the cinema Admiral at 6:30 pm, La familia by Gustavo Rondón Córdova, followed by Ravens by Jens Assur – preceded by the short Figli maestri by Simone Bucri (at 8:30 pm) and then Romans by the Shammasian Brothers (at 10:30 pm). The Cinema dei Piccoli will be screening The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature by Callan Brunker (at 11 am).
Repeat screenings will be held at venues across the city. The Teatro Studio Gianni Borgna will host Mudbound by Dee Rees (at 11 am), while the 3 and Google Cinema Hall will hold repeat screenings of Si muore tutti democristiani from “Il terzo segreto di satira” (at 2 pm), Maria by Callas: in Her Own Words by Tom Volf (at 5 pm), Borg McEnroe by Janus Metz (at 8 pm), and The Place by Paolo Genovese (at 10:30 pm). The MAXXI will be screening Tormentero by Rubén Ímaz (at 11:30 am), The Eternal Feminine by Natalia Beristáin (at 2:30 pm), NYsferatu – Symphony of a Century by Andrea Mastrovito (at 5 pm) and Saturday Church by Damon Cardasis (at 7:30 pm). Four repeat screenings at My Cityplex Europa: Mudbound di Dee Rees (at 3 pm), The Eternal Feminine by Natalia Beristáin (at 6 pm), NYsferatu – Symphony of a Century by Andrea Mastrovito (at 8 pm) and Tormentero by Rubén Ímaz (at 10 pm).