20th Rome Film Festival

The 20th Rome Film Festival was held from 15 October in the Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome till 26 October 2025.^[1] The festival opened with 2025 Italian comedy film Life Goes This Way by Riccardo Milani.^[2] Paola Cortellesi, an Italian actress, comedian, film director, screenwriter and producer served as the president of the jury of the Progressive Cinema Competition.^[3][4]

Ema Stokholma, a DJ, host, actress, writer and singer, hosted the opening of the festival on 15 October in Sala Sinopoli of the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone. She also hosted the closing ceremony and the awards presentation ceremony on 25 October in Sala Petrassi.^[5] The Taiwanese-American drama film Left-Handed Girl written, directed and produced by Shih-Ching Tsou, won the Best film award, while French drama film Nino by Pauline Loquès won the Grand Jury Prize, as announced during the presentation.^[6][7]

In the 20th edition of the festival 198 films from 38 countries had 436 screenings with the total attendance of 116,503 people.^[8]

The festival concluded on 26 October 2025 with re-run of winning films and screening of the final season of Carlo Verdone's TV series Vita da Carlo, which is a portrayal of the drama and the comedy of Carlo Verdone's private life.^[9]

The festival celebrated birth centenary of Franco Pinna, Italian photographer of the second half of the 20th century. The official poster of the festival is a shot taken by him on the set of Federico Fellini's 1965 fantasy comedy-drama film, Juliet of the Spirits.^[10] David Puttnam, British-Irish film producer, educator, environmentalist and former member of the House of Lords, was honoured with Industry Lifetime Achievement Award at the opening ceremony. He received the award from Britain-based Italian director and screenwriter Uberto Pasolini.^[11]

Jafar Panahi, Iranian film director, screenwriter, and editor and Richard Linklater, American filmmaker were honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award by Italian film director and screenwriter Giuseppe Tornatore and Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor Marco Bellocchio respectively. On 16 October the New York filmmaker Nia DaCosta was presented with the Progressive Lifetime Achievement Award by the festival's Artistic Director Paola Malanga.^[12]

On 19 September 2025, the festival unveiled its line-up. The festival showcased 19i titles from 38 countries. ^[13][14]

The jury for the competitive sections was announced on 29 July 2025. The jury will decide Best Film, Grand Jury Prize, Best Director, Best Screenplay, the "Monica Vitti" Award for Best Actress, the "Vittorio Gassman" Award for Best Actor and the Special Jury Prize in Progressive Cinema Competition.^[15][16]

• Paola Cortellesi, an Italian actress, comedian, film director, screenwriter and producer (Jury President)
• Teemu Nikki, a Finnish director and screenwriter
• William Oldroyd, a British director and screenwriter
• Brian Selznick, an American writer and illustrator
• Nadia Tereszkiewicz, a French-Finnish actress

• Santiago Mitre, Argentine film director and screenwriter (Jury President)
• Patrick Dickinson, Anglo-Irish director and screenwriter
• Barbara Ronchi, Italian actress

Festa del Cinema will honor the 100th birth anniversary of Italian photographer Franco Pinna with three parallel exhibitions titled "Franco Pinna Photographer. Tribute to a Century." Curated by Paolo Pisanelli and organized by Archivio Franco Pinna and OfficinaVisioni, the exhibitions will be showcased in key festival venues, in collaboration with Cinema del reale, Erratacorrige, and Big Sur.^[17]

The twentieth edition will have following sections:^[18][19]

• Progressive Cinema Competition
• Freestyle
• Grand public
• Special screenings
• Best of 2025
• History of cinema
• Special events

La vita va così starring Virginia Raffaele, Diego Abatantuono, and Aldo Baglio, a "humorous twenty-year story set in a wonderful corner of Sardinia" was selected as the opening film of the festival.^[20]

Susan Seidelman is an American film director, producer, and writer.

Claudio Caligari was an Italian director and screenwriter. The production country of all the films is Italy.

David Puttnam, British-Irish film producer, educator, environmentalist and former member of the House of Lords.

The jury awarded the following prizes to the films presented in the festival:^[21][22]

• Best Film: Left-Handed Girl by Shih-Ching Tsou, Taiwan, France, United States, United Kingdom
• Jury Grand Prix: Nino by Pauline Loquès
• Best Director: Wang Tong for Wild Nights, Tamed Beasts
• Best Screenplay: Alireza Khatami for The Things You Kill
• Best Actress – Monica Vitti Award
  • Prize: Jasmine Trinca for [The Eyes Of Others
• Best Actor – Vittorio Gassman Award
  • Prize: Anson Boon for Good Boy
• Special Jury Prize: To the cast of film 40 secondi

• Keep Me in Mind by Alberto Palmiero

• Cuba & Alaska by Yegor Troyanovsky

• Roberto Rossellini, More Than a Life by Ilaria de Laurentiis , Andrea Paolo Massara and Raffaele Brunetti

• David Puttnam, British-Irish film producer, educator, environmentalist and former member of the House of Lords.^[23]

• • Jafar Panahi, Iranian film director, screenwriter, and editor^[24]

• • Richard Linklater, American filmmaker^[25]

• Nia DaCosta, American filmmaker^[26]

• Edgar Reitz, German filmmaker and Professor of Film at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung (State University of Design) in Karlsruhe^[27][28]

• Can Yaman, Turkish actor

(awarded by the Lazio Region)

• Official website
• 20th Rome Film Festival at IMDb
• Programme Guide of Rome Film Festival