Francis Ford Coppola, the American filmmaker who directed masterpieces like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, has chosen the second edition of the RomeFilmFest to present the world premiere of his latest film, Youth Without Youth. The film, which comes to the screen after a ten-year hiatus (The Rainmaker, in fact, dates back to 1997), is based on a story by Mircea Eliade set in Rumania during the Nazi dictatorship, and features a top-knotch cast that includes Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, The Legend of 1900) but also Bruno Ganz and Alexandra Maria Lara (stars of the film Downfall).

Statement by Goffredo Bettini (President of the RomeFilmFest) and Piera Detassis(Artistic Director of the Première Section)

The world premiere in Rome of the latest film by Francis Ford Coppola, Youth Without Youth, is an event that honors us and qualifies the second edition of our RomeFilmFest (18-27 October 2007).

Coppola is one of the great masters of cinema, and after many years he has returned to make a film that the public is eagerly awaiting and that is bound to be, like all of his films, an extraordinary cultural event.

The choice of Rome is also a tribute to all of Italian cinema and to all our directors with close ties to our city as well; it is they who have projected Rome into the imagination of filmgoers all over the world.