This year the RomeFilmFest section Première, directed by Piera Detassis, aims at a more balanced blend of red carpet, glamour and quality. The first films to be announced underscore this: Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth:The Golden Age (the opening film of the section, dedicated to glamour but above all to great acting, with great performers such as Oscar-winners Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush, along with the English star Clive Owen, all walking down the red carpet); and the return to the silver screen, after a ten-year hiatus, of the legendary director Francis Ford Coppola, whose Youth Without Youth, featuring a splendid performance by Tim Roth, is an extraordinary gift to film lovers, complex and shocking. Based on a story by Mircea Eliade, the film represents Coppola’s third rebirth as an artist, as the director himself has stated.

In an interview that will be published by an important Italian monthly film magazine, Coppola said: “My film was requested by every single film festival, but I didn’t want to send it to any of them.  I think film festivals are a thing of the past, completely obsolete. All they are good for is stirring up controversy. There’s no real interest in the movies; they’re just the film critics’ sacrificial victims. On the contrary, in Rome there seems to be a sincere desire to choose and screen films for the audience.”

Along with Coppola, in attendance at the RomeFilmFest there will be the leads Tim Roth and Bruno Ganz as well as the director’s family: his wife Eleanor, his son Roman (who has taken part in the making of the film) and his daughter Sofia.

The same policy of blending quality and entertainment characterizes the Italian selection for the Première section. Two movies by filmmakers from different generations and with very different styles: the art-house intensity of Giorni e nuvole by Silvio Soldini, entirely shot in Genoa, on the themes of unemployment and love, with a particularly inspired Margherita Buy and Antonio Albanese in a surprising role; and, closing the Première section, a great auteur horror film with Dario Argento‘s La terza madre(Mother of Tears: The Third Mother), featuring Asia Argento and Daria Nicolodi, the final and hotly-awaited third part of the legendary Three Mothers trilogy, after Suspiria and Inferno. Restored copies of these two films will be screened right after The Third Mother‘s premiere, as a part of the tribute event Notte d’Argento.

The Cinema 2007 section, directed by Giorgio Gosetti and Teresa Cavina, will open with Alain Corneau‘s Le Deuxieme Souffle (The Second Wind), which will bring Daniel Auteuil, Monica Bellucci, Eric Cantona, and Jacques Dutronc to Rome, among others.Also on the lineup Hector Babenco‘s El Pasado (Argentine), featuring Gael Garcia Bernal and Ana Celentano in a sentimental comedy based on Alan Pauls’ best-seller by the same name; and Caotica Ana by leading Spanish filmmaker Julio Medem, which features the stunning debut of Manuela Vellés alongside Charlotte Rampling.

In addition, Sidney Lumet‘s latest and long-awaited work, Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead, will be screened as a tribute to the master of American filmmaking, as part of the RomeFilmFest special project dedicated to the Actors Studio. The film stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, and Marisa Tomei.

The RomeFilmFest Extra section, directed by Mario Sesti, in collaboration with Amref, will present the European premiere of the film War Dance by Sean and Andrea Nix Fine, which won the award for best documentary direction at the Sundance Film Festival. The movie tells the story of a traditional music and dance contest that takes place in the North of Uganda, designed to rehabilitate teenagers who had previously been used as guerrilla fighters to commit slaughters.

Appearing in the same section, the world premiere of Franco Battiato‘s Niente è come sembra and Guido Chiesa‘s latest work, Le pere di Adamo: “A film that talks about precariousness, clouds and mathematicians who are anything but cold and unfeeling,’ says Chiesa. ‘It’s a journey through science, its limits and its application to human life, to politics, for example, or environmental issues. Yet it’s also a film that’s hard to pin down, like a cloud. Shot in three languages in France, Scotland and Italy, it features the meteorologist Luca Mercalli (who collaborates with Fabio Fazio on the television program ‘Che tempo che fa’), as well as a group of French stage actors and a young Scottish mathematician-musician. To be premiered at the RomeFilmFest’s Extra section is a enormous honor for us, due to the international profile of the event.”

Also in Extra, the ultimate version of In viaggio con Patrizia, a previously unreleased work by the late Alberto Grifi, the most famous experimental filmmaker in contemporary Italian cinema, to whom the RomeFilmFest had given a special award just before his death. This is the film he was working on at that time: a reworking of a portrait of the poet Patrizia Vicinelli from the 1960s, featuring an original music score by the jazz musician Paolo Fresu.

Alice nella città, the section directed by Gianluca Giannelli, aims at focusing the public’s attention on topics such as troubled teenagers or the difficulties of growing up in isolated communities, or on the outskirts of big cities. A selection of 14 films in competition, in their world or European premieres, featuring both renowned artists and new talents. Among the films that have been confirmed: the world premiere of Brad Isaacs‘ Have Dreams, Will Travel, the extraordinary account of a touching journey towards emotional freedom, with a superb cast featuring Annasophia Robb (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Bridge to Terabithia), Cayden Boyd, Lara Flynn Boyle, Val Kilmer, Matthew Modine, Ethan Phillips, and Denise Richards; and Anand Tucker‘s And When Did You Last See Your Father?, based on English writer Blake Morrison’s bestseller, the moving story of a man’s life according to his own son’s account.

The complete program of the Extra section will be presented on September 19, while the official presentation of the Premiere, Cinema 2007 and Alice nella città  sections will take place on September 27.

From Walter Veltroni, Mayor of Rome

“The second edition of the RomeFilmFest is sure to be a great event fully capable of  merging its popular style and extraordinary draw on the public  with an expert eye for innovation and research.

From the very first films whose participation we are proud to confirm, the RomeFilmFest reiterates its aim of appealing to a wide audience and, at the same time, offering a topknotch program.

The different sections achieve a perfect balance: Première will host major productions and beloved film stars; the Cinema 2007 Competition will focus on the best auteur cinema on the international scene; Extra will be home to experimentation, surprising encounters, and borderline efforts between cinema and other arts;  while Alice is the most prestigious event today dedicated films for children and teenagers.

We are pleased to be collaborating in such a positive way with the other Italian festivals – to whom we wish all the luck and success they well deserve – in or
der to strengthen an Italian film platform fully able to compete and take its rightful place  on the international scene.”