“A slimmer line-up which drills down deeper, focusing on puberty, father-son relationships, rites of passage and the search for identity”. This is how the festival’s long-term artistic director Gianluca Giannelli, alongside Fabia Bettini, presented the latest edition of Alice nella Città, the autonomous section for younger generations which will unfold in parallel with Rome Film Fest between 13 and 23 October, and which will be celebrating its 20th anniversary with a very special guest: “gladiator” Russell Crowe. The New Zealand actor is set to present a world premiere (in co-production with Rome Film Fest) of his second directorial effort Poker Face in the Alice sidebar, as well as accepting a Special Prize here and taking part in a masterclass open to film schools and the general public.

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The festival programme consists of 12 works in competition, 3 films screening out of competition, 8 titles in the Italian Panorama competition (plus 4 Special Screenings) and 4 Special Events. The opening film will be the American first work/phenomenon Marcel The Shell With Shoes On by Dean Fleischer-Camp, “a Little Prince 4.0” whose protagonist is a talking shell. The European titles battling it out in the competition are La maternal [+lee también:
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entrevista: Pilar Palomero
ficha de la película] by Pilar Palomero, Close [+lee también:
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entrevista: Eden Dambrine
entrevista: Lukas Dhont
entrevista: Lukas Dhont
ficha de la película] by Lukas Dhont, Cet été-là by Eric Lartigau (starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Marina Foïs), Hawa [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Maïmouna Doucouré, and first works Summer Scars [+lee también:
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entrevista: Simon Rieth
ficha de la película] by Simon Rieth and the winner of Cannes’ most recent Certain Regard competition The Worst Ones [+lee también:
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entrevista: Romane Gueret y Lise Akoka
ficha de la película] by Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret. The only Italian title in the running is the documentary Il cerchio [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Sophie Chiarello, which homes in on B section children in Manin Primary School in Rome. The competition also includes American films Armageddon Time by James Gray (in co-production with the festival), I Love My Dad by James Morosini, and Signs of Love by Clarence Fuller (starring Rosanna Arquette), and Canada’s Before I Change My Mind by Trevor Anderson.

Out of Competition, there’s Carlota Pereda’s horror film Piggy [+lee también:
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entrevista: Carlota Pereda
ficha de la película], Danish documentary A House Made of Splinters [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Simon Lereng Wilmont, and Charlotte Wells’ British-American first film Aftersun [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (starring Paul Mescal; Roman audiences will also get to meet the director and the actor at the festival). Special Screenings will include the Italian-German series Corpo libero, a coming-of-age thriller set in the world of women’s artistic gymnastics and directed by Cosima Spender and Valerio Bonelli, and the Canadian documentary Backlash: Misogyny in The Digital Age by Léa Clermont-Dion and Guylaine Maroist, drilling down into cyber misogyny.

Amongst other titles, the Italian Panorama section will offer up the emotional horror film Flowing [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Paolo Strippoli, The Man on the Road [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Gianluca Mangiasciutti (opening film), Il ritorno [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Stefano Chiantini (starring pop singer Emma Marrone, whom audiences will get a chance to meet, and Fabrizio Rongione), and Fabio Mollo’s new film My Soul Summer, which marks X Factor winner Casadilego’s big screen debut. The Special Screening line-up will include Giorgio Testi’s documentary Mahmood, in which the famous popstar tells his own story, while the Special Events programme includes The Tiger’s Nest [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Brando Quilici and Heart of Oak [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Laurent Charbonnier and Michel Seydoux.

The “Sintonie” section, developed in collaboration with the Venice Film Festival, is also making a return this year, offering up four films presented in the latest Orizzonti line-up, namely Ghost Night [+lee también:
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entrevista: Fulvio Risuleo
ficha de la película] by Fulvio Risuleo, Hanging Gardens [+lee también:
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entrevista: Ahmed Yassin Al Daradji
ficha de la película] by Ahmed Yassin Al Daradji, Innocence [+lee también:
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entrevista: Guy Davidi
ficha de la película] by Guy Davidi, and Bread and Salt [+lee también:
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entrevista: Damian Kocur
ficha de la película] by Damian Kocur. A selection of 28 short films is set to round off the festival programme, including Feliz Navidad, which signals the directorial debut of actress Greta Scarano.

Meanwhile, the Best Film award will be decided upon by a jury of 35 young people between 16 and 19 years old, the Best Italian Film will be voted upon by a jury composed of directors Riccardo Milani and Massimiliano Bruni, actress Milena Mancini, actor Giampaolo Morelli and singer Tosca, there’s a new festival award in the form of the Corbucci Prize for distribution, and, last but not least, director Gabriele Mainetti is set to lead the jury.