Rome Film Festival to overlap AFM

The eighth Rome Film Festival is to run from Nov 8-17 and its market will take place from Nov 13-17, with both events expanding by one day.

It is nearly identical to last year’s festival, which was moved from its traditional mid-October slot and ran from Nov 9-17.

But while the dates sit firmly between Toronto in September and Berlin in February, the next Rome Film Festival will overlap with this year’s American Film Market (AFM), which is being held at the later date of Nov 6-13.

The resulting clash could see Rome suffer a decline in industry attendees.

Sylvain Auzou, manager of Rome Film Festival market The Business Street, expressed concern last year that the festival’s new post-AFM slot was a “damaging one” in respect to the number of buyers and that trend could continue with the two events much closer together this year.

The dates also mean that Rome continues to draw attention from Torino, which runs Nov 22-30, but doesn’t overlap it. However, the renewed proximity of the two events is likely to add further fuel to the ongoing inter-festival rivalry in Italy.

Last year was Marco Mueller’s first year in charge. After a turbulent first edition, during which he delivered nearly 60 world premieres but overall attendance fell by 15%, the former Venice director pledged cheaper ticket prices and fewer films in future editions.

As in past years, the heart of the event will be the Auditorium Parco della Musica.