Rome unveils line-up fuelled by young talents

The International Rome Film Festival will welcome Julianne Moore to accept Rome’s Acting Award and present her latest film The Kids Are All Right by Lisa Cholodenko, in an out of competition slot, artistic director Piera Detassis announced today.

Rome’s upcoming fifth edition (Oct 28-Nov 5) kicks off with competition title Last Night, for which Keira Knightley and Eva Mendes have confirmed their attendance and which promises a glamorous opener for the event.

Speaking of her selection over all, Detassis says this year showcases “more independent films and less US majors,” with decidedly “young directors offering mostly first, second and – at the most - third works.”

Strong draws to the 16-selection line up of competition titles include Nicole Kidman’s producer debut Rabbit Hole. While Kidman’s attendance is yet to be confirmed – film’s protagonist Aaron Eckhart has confirmed for the Rome launch. Another title certain to rouse curiosity in the territory, which has widely supported Ken Loach’s films, is the debut of Jim Loach (Ken Loach’s son) Oranges and Sunshine with Emily Watson. The UK-Australian co production is one of six titles that fly the Australian flag throughout this edition’s line up.

Detassis said the festival would host some 20 world premieres across its primary sections (there are 146 features and documentaries throughout the line up). But while the bulk of films on offer are in their international premieres, the titles will assure another strong turn out by Rome’s cinemagoers which make up 58 percent of the festival’s attendees with the remaining 42 percent hailing from the industry, festival manager Francesca Via said today.

The choice is intelligent for Rome, which seems to have opted for strong titles over un-known world premieres this edition with such audience grabbers as the Facebook inspired hit The Social Network, for which Rome has secured a late confirmation. “The film will have a special screening for our audiences,” Detassis told Screen. The festival will also be screening a 20-minute world premiere of Dylan Dog via Movie Max on Halloween night and showcasing Matt Reeves’ out of competition remake Let Me In.

Other competition titles include hot button picture Dog Sweat, the Iran-US co-production by Hosein Keshavarz shot undercover in Iran; Denmark’s Oscar contender Susanne Bier’s In A Better World; the French-Hong Kong title The Back which explores totalitarianism through body art directed by Liu Bingjian.

Also in competition, in a departure from the typical Italian productions three out of four Italian world premiere titles plus the first international Iraq co-production (with Italy and Switzerland) reflect a concentrated shifted from local stories to international ones due to the impact of immigration on this until recently mono-cultural society including The Flowers of Kirkuk (Golakani Kirkuk), a fatal attraction love story set in 1980s Iraq during the Saddam Hussein regime made with support from the autonomous region of Kurdistan and the Lazio region. Directed by Fairborz Kamkari, an Iranian Kurd who lives in Rome, the film was shot in Iraq, although the festival defines it as “without nationality.” Medusa distributes.

Gangor, mostly in Hindi is another beyond boarders film for Italy is an Italy-India co-production directed by Italo Spinelli boasting Gomorrah DOP Marco Onorato and The Best Of Youth producer Angelo Barbagallo and is inspired by Indian writer Mahasweta Devi’s story Choli Ke Piche focuses on a tribal woman whose image is snapped by a photojournalist as she breastfeeds.

Claudio Cupellini’s Germany-set Una Vita Tranquilla stars Toni Servillo who speaks in German for the project; Guido Chiesa’s Io Sono Con Te is a secular spin of the Mary-Jesus relationship set in Tunisia in Arab and ancient Greek.

The foreign theme is reprised with Ricky Tognazzi’s out of competition title Il Padre e Lo Straniero which translates to The Father and the Foreigner.

Other strong titles to be unveiled in Rome include the 72-minute Boardwalk Empire pilot by Martin Scorsese for which Scorsese is expected to be on hand via live satellite link from the set of The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Rome audiences will also see Nigel Cole’s Made In Dagenham, David Michod’s Animal Kingdom, Guillaume Canet’s Marion Cotillard-starring Les Petits Mouchoirs, Alain Corneau’s Love Crime, and Bhutto by Duane Baughman and Johnny O’Hara – for which the son of the late Benazir Bhutto is expected to attend.

In a year which focuses on Japan, Romans will get a look at Hideo Nakata’s The Incite Mill: 7 Day Death Game, Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s The Borrower Arrietty as well as Perfect Blue as part of an homage to the late animator Satoshi Kon.

Rome will offer other homage’s this edition to Japan’s Akira Kurosawa with a restored viewing of the classic Rashomon and to Italy’s Ugo Tognazzi. Screenwriter Suso Cecchi D’Amico will receive a Golden Marc’Aurelio to her memory, an award initiated by her long time friend and Rome Festival president Gian Luigi Rondi.

Another draw in Rome this year is the world premier restored version of Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, the film that is perhaps closest to Romans’ hearts and which epitomizes Italian cinema world-wide in a restoration from the Cineteca Bologna with Scorsese’s World Cinema Fund.

Competition

Dog Sweat - Hossein Keshavarz (Iran-US)

Five Day Shelter - Ger Leonard (Ireland)

Gangor - Italo Spinelli (Italy-India)

Flowers Of Kirkuk - Fariborz Kamkari (no nationality)

In A Better World (Hævnen) - Susanne Bier (Denmark)

Io sono con te - Guido Chiesa (Italy)

Kill Me Please - Olias Barco (Belgium)

Last Night - Massy Tadjedin (US-France)

La Scuola E Finita - Valerio Jalongo (Italy)

The Good Herbs (Las buenas hierbas) - María Novaro (Mexico)

The Back (Bei Mian) - Liu Bingjian (France-Hong Kong)

Little Sparrows - Yu-Hsiu Camille Chen (Australia)

Oranges and Sunshine - Jim Loach (UK, Australia)

Poll / The Poll Diaries - Chris Kraus (Germany-Austria-Estonia)

Rabbit Hole - John Cameron Mitchell (US)

Una Vita Tranquilla - Claudio Cupellini (Italy)

Out Of Competition:

Animal Kingdom - David Michôd (Australia)

Boardwalk Empire - Martin Scorsese (US)

Love Crime (Crime d’Amour) - Alain Corneau (France)

Il Padre E Lo Straniero - Ricky Tognazzi (Italy)

The Incite Mill: 7 Day Death Game (Inshite Miru - Nanokakan No Desu Gemu) - Hideo Nakata (Japan)

Karigurashi no Arietty / Arrietty - Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Japan)

Little White Lies (Les Petits mouchoirs) - Guillaume Canet (France)

Let Me In - Matt Reeves (US-UK)

The Big Picture (L’Homme Qui Voulait Vivre Sa Vie) -  Eric Lartigau (France)

The Kids Are All Right - Lisa Cholodenko (US)

Made In Dagenham - Nigel Cole (UK)

Special Events

My Name Is Khan - Karan Johar – (India)

La scomparsa di Patò - Rocco Mortelliti – (Italy)

Carlos - Olivier Assayas – (France)

Le Cose Che Restano - Gianluca Tavarell (Italy)

Chimères Absentes - Fanny Ardant (Italy-Switzerland)

Bhutto - Duane Baughman and Johnny O’Hara (US)

Inge Film - Luca Scarzella (Italy)

Francesco Nuti… e vengo da lontano - Mario Canale (Italy)

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night - Kevin Munroe, world premiere 20 minutes (US)

Crisi Di Classe - Giovanni Pedone (Italy)

Alice In the City competition

Adem (Oxygen d) - Hans Van Nuffel (Belgium)

The Best Things in the World (As Melhores Coisas Do Mundo) - Laís Bodanzky (Brazil)

Forever Young (Herois) - Pau Freixas (Spain)

Hold Me Tight (Hold om mig) - Kaspar Munk (Denmark)

I Want To Be a Soldier - Christian Molina (Spain-Italy)

L’estate Di Martino - Massimo Natale (Italy)

Leila - Audrey Estrougo (France)

Los Colores De La Montaña - Carlos César Arbelaez (Colombia)

Lou - Belinda Chayko (Australia)

Matching Jack - Nadia Tass (Australia)

My Brothers - Paul Fraser (Ireland)

A Distant Neighborhood (Quartier Lointain) - Sam Garbarski (Belgium-France-Luxembourg)

Tête de Turc - Pascal Elbé (France)

The Runway - Ian Power (Ireland-Luxemberg)

Alice In The City Official Selection

WINX Club 3D Magica Avventura 3D - Iginio Straffi (Italy)

Alice In The City / Extra

Asse Mediano - Michele Mossa (Italy)

Un sasso nello stagno - Felice Cappa (Italy)

Waiting for Superman - Davis Guggenheim (US)