The Rome Film Festival was established in 2006 by the initiative of former Rome mayor
Walter Veltroni. Cinema per Roma Foundation, the RFF's operator, was established in 2007 with the support of several state bodies – Camera di Commercio di Roma, Fondazione Musica per Roma, Lazio and Roma regional governments. However, Veltroni's ambitions were high, he dreamed the RFF to rival
Venice. The inaugural edition was highlighted by 12 world premieres, including
The Departed by
Martin Scorsese, and the presence of such stars as
Monica Bellucci,
Nicole Kidman,
Gabriele Salvatores,
Harrison Ford,
Sean Connery, and others. The RFF opened with 95 films in the official selection distributed across several sections: Premiere, Sezione Cinema, Special Events (for ‘border on genre cinema’), Extra (‘ultra-cineaste section’), and Alice in the City for kids and young adults. The event also featured industry sections New Cinema Network and New International Projects. The Best Film award was presented along with a €200,000 cash prize. The festival reported an attendance of 480,000 visitors and more than 100,000 sold tickets. In 2008,
Gian Luigi Rondi was appointed the RFF president, succeeding
Goffredo Bettini. The new mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, was sceptical about the event and called it useless. Overall, the third RFF festival was considered weaker than the second. In 2009, Piera Detassis was appointed art director of the RFF. Rondi stepped down in 2012, However, two years later the dates were shifted back. In 2015, the province's government had left the Foundation and was replaced by
Cinecitta. In the same year,
Antonio Monda was appointed the RFF's art director. An experienced and renowned professional, Monda is an author, exhibition curator, film director, and lecturer at
New York University's Film and Television Department. Under Monda, the festival was evolving rapidly. His vision was to make the event a celebration of cinema, not a competition between directors and teams, so the competitive section was eliminated. Monda managed to turn the festival into a high-profile world class event and eased the tension between the RFF and rival festivals. In 2019, he introduced two new sections, Duel, an open talk on film-related topics, and Loyalty/Betrayal, dedicated to film adaptations of famous literary works. In 2022, Monda's second three-year term expired, and he did not receive an offer for a third term, as decided by the Cinema per Roma Foundation. The management did not comment on this move, and a scandal erupted in the public sphere. Monda opposed the dismissal and demanded explanations. As journalists found out, Rome's mayor
Gualtieri and Minister of Culture
Dario Franceschini decided to dismiss Monda following the complaints of Goffredo Bettini and his sister Fabia, who manages
Alice nella Città section of the RFF.
Wes Anderson,
Meryl Streep,
Martin Scorsese,
Paolo Sorrentino,
Marco Bellocchio, and many other Hollywood and international stars voiced the support of Monda and condemned the dismissal, but to no avail. He was replaced by Paola Malanga, ex deputy director of RAI Cinema. Gianluca Farinelli became president, succeeding Laura Delli Colli. He stepped down in 2025 and was succeeded by Salvo Nastasi. In 2022,
FIAPF officially recognized the RFF as a Competitive Festival. That year’s edition was marked with the reintroduction of a competitive section as well as with such new open sections as Paso Doble, an encounter between authors, and Absolute Beginners, where established authors recount the story of their debut in cinema. == Profile ==