Rome, Scene Open

A century after his birth, Franco Pinna becomes the official image of the Festa del Cinema's 20th edition.

October light in Rome has a peculiar grace, golden, but already tinged with the quiet weight of autumn. It’s the kind of light that makes you want to turn on a screen.

Right now, the city is hosting the 20th edition of the Rome Film Fest (15–26 October).
If you’re here for a few days, wandering, visiting, simply letting yourself get lost, you might have already felt it. 

Something in the air shifts. More cameras around. More curious glances. More conversations starting with “I saw it last night”, even from people who, until yesterday, only talked about where to find the best carbonara.

Rome isn’t Venice. It doesn’t rush, it doesn’t sparkle under pressure.
It’s softer, more scattered. More modest and that’s precisely its charm.
Rather than a parade, it feels like a constellation of stories: over 150 films from 38 countries, premieres, encounters and chance discoveries by those who step into a cinema just to escape the rain and end up watching a small masterpiece from Iran.

The heart of the Fest beats at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, but it spreads naturally across the city: MAXXI, Casa del Cinema, Cinema Giulio Cesare, Teatro Palladium, Cinema Barberini and many others become rooms in one large, temporary house.
And if you take a taxi, expect a review before you even close the door, Roman taxi drivers know everything. Or at least they tell it so well you’ll believe them.

The Festival doesn’t overwhelm the city; it drifts through it, quietly.
For a few days, a shop window on Via del Babuino might look like a film scene, a sunset at the Pincio like a perfect shot, a conversation in a bar like a screen test.
Cinema seeps into the city and the city returns the favour, with its natural sense of drama.

Then, as always in Rome, everything fades gracefully.
The lights go out, the posters come down and what remains is that fleeting feeling of having witnessed something unrepeatable, even if just by accident.

You don’t need a ticket to notice it.
Just walk, and listen.

Discover the full programme at: https://www.romacinemafest.it/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Programma-Festa-del-Cinema-di-Roma-2025-ITA.pdf