The Rome Film Festival has unveiled the full line-up for its 20th edition, which takes place from October 15-26, and includes the world premiere
The Rome Film Festival has unveiled the full line-up for its 20th edition, which takes place from October 15-26, and includes the world premiere of Asif Kapadia’s documentary Kenny Dalglish.
Kenny Dalglish, about the legendary Liverpool player and manager, world premieres in Rome’s non-competitive Special Screenings documentary selection ahead of its launch on Amazon’s Prime Video in November.
It is the latest in Oscar-winning Kapadia’s portraits of sporting icons after Ayrton Senna, Diego Maradona and Roger Federer.
Rome’s main Progressive Cinema Competition spans 18 films, including the world premieres of four Italian features.
Vincenzo Alfieri’s 40 Seconds is inspired by true events and retracing the 24 hours leading up to a quarrel that turns into a violent beating.
The further three world premieres are Andrea De Sica’s The Eyes Of Others, inspired by the Casati Stampa murder that shocked the country in the 1970s; documentary Roberto Rossellini, More Than A Life; and Leandro Picarella’s coming-of-age tale Sciatunostro.
The main competition line-up also includes Jan Komasa’s UK-Polish coproduction Good Boy starring Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough which recently premiered at Toronto and Shih-Ching Tsou’s Cannes Critics Week title Left-Handed Girl.
Also playing in main competition are US director Oscar Boyson’s drama Our Hero, Balthazar; Jim Sheridan and David Merriman’s Re-Creation, inspired by the real-life murder of French film director Sophie Toscan du Plantier; and Kasia Adamik’sWinter Of The Crow, starring Lesley Manville, which launched at Toronto.
Rome’s non-competitive Grand Public section includes high-profile titles including Pablo Trapero’s &Sons, Alice Winocour’s Couture, Luc Besson’s Dracula, Brian Cox’s Glenrothan, Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet, Nia DaCosta’s Hedda and Annemarie Jacir’s Palestine 36.
The festival’s other sections include Freestyle for titles of any format and style; Screenings; Best of 2025; and History of Cinema.
Rome’s main competition jury will be presided over by Italian actress, screenwriter and director Paola Cortellesi, behind local box office hit There’s Still Tomorrow. Other jury members include director and writer Teemu Nikki, UK director William Oldroyd, writer and illustrator Brian Selznick, French-Finnish actress Nadia Tereszkiewicz.
The festival will honour Iranian director Jafar Panahi with a lifetime achievement award during the presentation of his Palme d’Or winning film It Was Just An Accident. UK producer David Puttnam will receive the festival’s Industry Lifetime Achievement Award during the opening night of the festival.
The festival has set La Vita Va Così by Riccardo Milani as its opening film. Spanning 20 years, La vita Va Così is set in a picturesque corner of Sardinia, where a community is caught between the dream of employment and the defence of its land and identity.
Rome will also award a prize for best first feature for films in the Progressive Cinema, Freestyle and Grand Public competition sections. The jury for the Poste Italiane best first feature film prize will be chaired by Argentinian director and producer Santiago Mitre, with UK director and screenwriter Christopher Andrews and Italian actress Barbara Ronchi.
Paola Malanga is the festival’s artistic director, supported by a selection committee composed of Giovanna Fulvi, Alberto Libera, Enrico Magrelli, Emanuela Martini and Alberto Pezzotta.
Rome Film Festival – Progressive Cinema Competition 2025
40 Seconds, dir. Vincenzo Alfieri (It)
L’accident De Piano, dir. Quentin Dupieux (Fr)
Wild Nights, Tamed Beasts, dir. Wang Tong (China)
Esta Isla, dir. Lorraine Jones Molina, Cristian Carretero (Puerto Rico)
Good Boy, dir. Jan Komasa (Pol-UK)
Kota (Hen), dir. György Pálfi (Ger-Gre-Hun)
Left-Handed Girl, dir. Shih-Ching Tsou (Tai-Fr-US-UK)
Mad Bills To Pay (Or Destiny, Dile Que No Soy Malo), dir. Joel Alfonso Vargas (US)
Miss Carbón, dir. Agustina Macri (Sp-Arg)
Nino, ir. Pauline Loquès (Fr)
The Eyes Of Others, dir. Andrea De Sica (It)
Our Hero, Balthazar, dir. Oscar Boyson (US)
Re-Creation, dir. Jim Sheridan, David Merriman (Ire-Lux)
Roberto Rossellini, More Than A Life, dr. Ilaria De Laurentiis, Andrea Paolo Massara, Raffaele Brunetti (It-Lat)
Sciatunostro, dir. Leandro Picarella (It)
Six Jours Ce Printemps-Là, dir. Joachim Lafosse (Bel-Fr-Lux)
The Things You Kill, dir. Alireza Khatami (Fr-Pol-Can-Turkey)
Winter Of The Crow, dir. Kasia Adamik (Pol-Lux-UK)
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