The 21st Festa del Cinema di Roma runs from 13 to 25 October at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, with more than 150 titles, a starry Grand Public line-up and a career achievement award for Javier Bardem presented by Paolo Sorrentino.The Fondazione Cinema per Roma unveiled the full programme for the 2026 Rome Film Fest at a press conference on Friday, confirming the festival's third consecutive edition under artistic director Paola Malanga.The 21st Rome Film Fest takes place from 13 to 25 October at the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, with additional screenings across the city. It opens with Il rumore delle cose nuove (The Noise of New Things), the latest film from Paolo Genovese, director of Perfetti sconosciuti and last year's box-office hit Follemente. The ensemble comedy-drama stars Emanuela Fanelli, Claudia Pandolfi, Vittoria Puccini, Stefano Accorsi, Lino Musella and Edoardo Pesce, with Claudio Santamaria. The opening ceremony will be hosted by Ema Stokholma.Spanish actor Javier Bardem will receive the festival's Career Achievement Award, presented to him by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino. Bardem, an Oscar winner for No Country for Old Men, will also present El ser querido, Rodrigo Sorogoyen's Cannes-acclaimed drama in which he plays an ageing, troubled film director, screening in the Best of 2026 section. British producer Tessa Ross has separately been named recipient of the festival's Industry Lifetime Achievement Award.The Selezione Ufficiale is divided into six strands: the international competition Progressive Cinema - Visioni per il mondo di domani, which mixes fiction, documentary and animation across up to 18 titles; the free-form, non-competitive Freestyle section covering film, art and television; Grand Public, aimed at wide audiences; Proiezioni Speciali; Best of 2026, showcasing highlights from other festivals; and Storia del Cinema, dedicated to restorations. Among the starrier Grand Public titles are Taika Waititi's Klara and the Sun, adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro's novel and starring Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams and Steve Buscemi; Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut, his third film as director, with Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti; Anton Corbijn's A Talent for Murder, starring Helen Mirren as crime novelist Patricia Highsmith opposite Alden Ehrenreich; and Simon Stone's Elsinore, with Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman. Peter Farrelly's I Play Rocky, tracing Sylvester Stallone's rise, and Brian Duffield's survival thriller Whalefall, with Josh Brolin, also feature, alongside French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Changer l'eau des fleurs, with Sergio Castellitto, and Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, starring Deva Cassel and Romain Duris, both having their world premieres in Rome.Italian cinema is strongly represented in Grand Public, including Massimiliano Bruno's Un tranquillo funerale di famiglia, with Diego Abatantuono and Stefania Sandrelli, and Nicola Prosatore's Pino Daniele biopic Je so' pazzo. Paola Randi's Se domani non torno, based on the murder of Giulia Cecchettin and starring Filippo Timi, will premiere jointly with the festival's youth strand, Alice nella Città.Women directors feature prominently across the selection, among them Susanna Nicchiarelli, Blerta Basholli, Clio Barnard, Frauke Finsterwalder, Kasia Smutniak and Ginevra Elkann, several presenting work that also passed through this year's Venice festival.Television gets a strong showing too, with the world premiere of Marvel Vision Quest, starring Paul Bettany and James Spader, and a new season of All's Fair with Kim Kardashian and Glenn Close, alongside Italian series including Michele Placido's Livatino and Letizia Lamartire's La famiglia Panini.Full programme and ticket information are available at romacinemafest.it.

The Fondazione Cinema per Roma unveiled the full programme for the 2026 Rome Film Fest at a press conference on Friday, confirming the festival's third consecutive edition under artistic director Paola Malanga. The 21st Rome Film Fest takes place from 13 to 25 October at the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, with additional screenings across the city. It opens with Il rumore delle cose nuove (The Noise of New Things), the latest film from Paolo Genovese, director of Perfetti sconosciuti and last year's box-office hit Follemente. The ensemble comedy-drama stars Emanuela Fanelli, Claudia Pandolfi, Vittoria Puccini, Stefano Accorsi, Lino Musella and Edoardo Pesce, with Claudio Santamaria. The opening ceremony will be hosted by Ema Stokholma.

Spanish actor Javier Bardem will receive the festival's Career Achievement Award, presented to him by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino. Bardem, an Oscar winner for No Country for Old Men, will also present El ser querido, Rodrigo Sorogoyen's Cannes-acclaimed drama in which he plays an ageing, troubled film director, screening in the Best of 2026 section. British producer Tessa Ross has separately been named recipient of the festival's Industry Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Selezione Ufficiale is divided into six strands: the international competition Progressive Cinema - Visioni per il mondo di domani, which mixes fiction, documentary and animation across up to 18 titles; the free-form, non-competitive Freestyle section covering film, art and television; Grand Public, aimed at wide audiences; Proiezioni Speciali; Best of 2026, showcasing highlights from other festivals; and Storia del Cinema, dedicated to restorations.


Among the starrier Grand Public titles are Taika Waititi's Klara and the Sun, adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro's novel and starring Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams and Steve Buscemi; Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut, his third film as director, with Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti; Anton Corbijn's A Talent for Murder, starring Helen Mirren as crime novelist Patricia Highsmith opposite Alden Ehrenreich; and Simon Stone's Elsinore, with Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman. Peter Farrelly's I Play Rocky, tracing Sylvester Stallone's rise, and Brian Duffield's survival thriller Whalefall, with Josh Brolin, also feature, alongside French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Changer l'eau des fleurs, with Sergio Castellitto, and Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, starring Deva Cassel and Romain Duris, both having their world premieres in Rome.

Italian cinema is strongly represented in Grand Public, including Massimiliano Bruno's Un tranquillo funerale di famiglia, with Diego Abatantuono and Stefania Sandrelli, and Nicola Prosatore's Pino Daniele biopic Je so' pazzo. Paola Randi's Se domani non torno, based on the murder of Giulia Cecchettin and starring Filippo Timi, will premiere jointly with the festival's youth strand, Alice nella Città.

Women directors feature prominently across the selection, among them Susanna Nicchiarelli, Blerta Basholli, Clio Barnard, Frauke Finsterwalder, Kasia Smutniak and Ginevra Elkann, several presenting work that also passed through this year's Venice festival.

Television gets a strong showing too, with the world premiere of Marvel Vision Quest, starring Paul Bettany and James Spader, and a new season of All's Fair with Kim Kardashian and Glenn Close, alongside Italian series including Michele Placido's Livatino and Letizia Lamartire's La famiglia Panini.

Full programme and ticket information are available at .