Sean Connery was the first star to walk down the long red carpet of the RomeFilmFest. After stopping for the photo call, the actor, accompanied by festival president Goffredo Bettini and one of its directors, Mario Sesti, entered the Sala Sinopoli for the screening of The Bowler and the Bunnet, the only film he directed, after which he had a long encounter with the audience and press, coordinated by Sesti and Antonio Monda. Bettini presented the screening: “This is the festival´s first official action and we are unfortunately pained by the passing of Gillo Pontecorvo, to whom Ettore Scola will pay tribute tonight. It feels like the first day of school for us. We will be satisfied if at the end of the festival we will have created a new audience and discovered new talent, and if the festival will have contributed to the city´s economic development”. Before the beginning of the film, Connery said simply: “I am truly enthusiastic about being in Rome. It seems incredible that a large festival is being inaugurated only today in Rome”. After the screening, the meeting with the public and press also featured sequences from several of the Scottish actor´s most famous films, in between which Connery responded jokingly to questions from the audience, made up of numerous fans and journalists. Urged on by Sesti and Monda´s questions, Sir Connery went over several moments of his career, relating his experiences working with great directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg, whom he recalls for their capacity to plan out the slightest details on their sets. He recalled how he debuted in show business in a musical and revealed that he actually does not enjoy seeing the films in which he has acted. Speaking later of John Houston, who directed him in The Man Who Would Be King, the charming Scottish star reminisced about the relaxed and fun atmosphere on the film´s Moroccan set. When asked by Sesti why he has been asked to play a king so often, Connery responded with a quip: “Well, because they never asked to play a queen!”. Connery proved to be a witty man during the encounter, which was a continuous exchange of jokes that audiences enjoyed and applauded throughout. Only at the end, when asked why he has not acted in some time, did Connery respond with some bitterness: “Unfortunately, the divide in Hollywood grows increasingly larger between those who know how to make films and those who decide who can make them”.