The Rome Film Fest gets the whole city involved

Ever since its first edition, the Rome Film Fest has been headquartered at the Auditorium Parco della Musica. The facility designed by Renzo Piano hosts the main screening theaters (Sala Sinopoli, Sala Petrassi, Teatro Studio Gianni Borgna, and AuditoriumArte) as well as spaces for exhibitions and installations (foyer Sinopoli, foyer Petrassi, Studio 2, and Studio 3). And the 1,300-sqm entryway leading to the Cavea turns into one of the world’s largest red carpets.
Across from the Auditorium, this year the Cinema Village features the “3 e Google Cinema Hall”, a purpose-built theater that seats 600. There are also several pavilions and stands made of steel, glass and wood lining the entrance to the Auditorium and offering information and other services to festivalgoers. After its successful run in 2016, the food area Foodopolis returns to the Rome Film Fest this year. Curated by Noao, its food & wine format focuses on Apulian cuisine and features a restaurant, a food market and an area devoted to street food. Festgoers will also spy a Leffe Truck with a lounge area set up as a “beer bar”. The Romeur Academy, devoted to makeup, will offer a multifunctional venue designed for communication via social media of formats and short films by young artists. With its info point and ticket office, the Cinema Village also contains a BNL cash machine and other stands for Fest partners, designated for hospitality and promotional activities.
As it has in past editions, the Fest reaches out to the rest of the city as well, working closely with the metropolitan area’s most vibrant cultural institutions.
The Auditorium at the MAXXI – National Museum of XXI Century Arts (via Guido Reni 4a) hosts conferences and screenings, including the numerous films on the Riflessi program’s lineup, repeat screenings of films in the Official Selection, the livestreamed performance of “Hamlet in Rebibbia”, from the Rebibbia Prison in Rome, and the events connected with “Fighting Violence Against Women.”
The Casa del Cinema in Villa Borghese (largo Marcello Mastroianni 1) will be holding the screenings of films in the Fest’s sections devoted to Tributes, Riflessi, and its Films of Our Lives program, as well as “Politeama – A Reading, to Music”. In recent days, the Casa del Cinema has also hosted two pre-opening events for the Fest. Downtown, the Cinema Trevi (vicolo del Puttarello 25) will be screening the films in the “Italian School” retrospective, while the theater My Cityplex Europa (Corso d’Italia 107) will host repeat screenings of titles in the Official Selection and screenings in the Tributes section.
And new this year, the 2017 Rome Film Fest has launched a collaboration with the patients at the Policlinico Gemelli Hospital and their family members, in the facility’s own MediCinema theater, which will screen two films from the official Fest lineup (largo Agostino Gemelli 8).
Meanwhile, at the city’s Rebibbia Prison, in the Auditorium of its new annex (via Raffaele Majetti 70), inmates and visitors will be treated to screenings of the films A Private Matter by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Terapia di coppia per amanti by Alessio Maria Federici, and Talcum Powder by Carlo Verdone, along with the performance of “Hamlet in Rebibbia”. Over in the Women’s Ward at Rebibbia (via Bartolo Longo 92), in its Sala Cinema “Melograno”, a screening of Vincent Minelli’s The Band Wagon and the short SalviAmo la faccia will be reserved for inmates and students. Films from the Fest lineup can also be seen at the Teatro Tor Bella Monaca (Via Bruno Cirino) and the Teatro Palladium (Piazza Bartolomeo Romano, 8).
At the other end of the city, in EUR, at its headquarters in the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, FENDI will be celebrating its close ties to film with the exhibition “FENDI STUDIOS”, the Hotel de Russie (Via del Babuino, 9) will host the exhibit “Scatti di cinema & Moda”, while two special red carpets in Via Condotti and Via della Frezza will pay homage to the seventh art.