Introduction to the Rome Film Festival
The Rome Film Festival has announced its full lineup for its 20th edition, which will take place from October 15th to 26th. The festival will feature the world premiere of Asif Kapadia’s documentary Kenny Dalglish, a non-competitive special screening that will be available on Amazon Prime Video in November.
The Documentary Selection
Kenny Dalglish is the latest in a series of portraits of sports icons by Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia, following Ayrton Senna, Diego Maradona, and Roger Federer. The documentary will have its world premiere at the Rome Film Festival before being released on Amazon Prime Video.
The Main Competition
The main competition at the Rome Film Festival features 18 films, including four world premieres of Italian films. One of the world premieres is Vincenzo Alfieri’s 40 seconds, which is inspired by real events and follows the 24 hours leading up to a dispute that turns into a violent beating. Other world premieres include Andrea de Sica’s The eyes of others, which is inspired by the Casati Stampa murder that shocked Italy in the 1970s, and Leandro Picarella’s coming-of-age film Screwed-up.
International Films in the Main Competition
The main competition also features international films, including the British co-production Good boy by Jan Komasa, which stars Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough, and Shih-Ching Tsou’s Left-handed girls, which premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week. Other films in the main competition include Oscar Boyson’s drama Our hero Balthazar, Jim Sheridan and David Merriman’s Recreation, and Kasia Adamik’s Winter of the crow, which stars Lesley Manville.
Non-Competitive Sections
The festival’s non-competitive sections feature a range of films, including Pablo Trapero’s & Sons, Alice Winocour’s Couture, and Luc Besson’s Dracula. Other films in the non-competitive sections include Brian Cox’s Glenrothan, Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet, Nia DaCosta’s Hedda, and Annemarie Jacir’s Palestine 36.
Other Sections of the Festival
The festival also features other sections, including Freestyle, which showcases films of all formats and styles, and Best of 2025, which highlights the best films of the year. The festival also has a section dedicated to the history of cinema.
Jury and Awards
The main competition jury is led by Italian actress, screenwriter, and director Paola Cortellesi, and includes directors Teemu Nikki and William Oldroyd, writer and illustrator Brian Selznick, and French actress Nadia Tereszkiewicz. The festival will also honor Iranian director Jafar Panahi with a lifetime achievement award, and UK producer David Puttnam will receive the festival’s lifetime achievement award.
Opening Film and First Feature Award
The festival’s opening film is Riccardo Milani’s Life works like that, which spans 20 years and follows a community in Sardinia. The festival will also award a prize for the best first feature film, which will be chosen by a jury led by Argentine director and producer Santiago Mitre.
Progressive Cinema Competition 2025
The progressive cinema competition features 18 films, including:
- 40 seconds by Vincenzo Alfieri
- An accident from the piano by Quentin Dupieux
- Wild nights, tame animals by Wang Tong
- This island by Lorraine Jones Molina and Cristian Carretero
- Good boy by Jan Komasa
- City (Henne) by György Pálfi
- Left-handed girls by Shih-Ching Tsou
- To pay crazy bills (or fate, tell me, I’m not bad) by Joel Alfonso Vargas
- Miss coal by Agustina Macri
- Nino by Pauline Loire
- The eyes of others by Andrea de Sica
- Our hero Balthazar by Oscar Boyson
- Recreation by Jim Sheridan and David Merriman
- Roberto Rossellini, more than one life by Ilaria de Laurentiis, Andrea Paolo Massara, and Raffaele Brunetti
- Screwed-up by Leandro Picarella
- Six days in spring by Joachim Lafosse
- The things you kill by Alireza Khatami
- Winter of the crow by Kasia Adamik
