Interview: 10th Rome Film Fest "all about celebrating movies": new artistic director

The 10th Rome Film Festival running from Oct. 16 to 24 was meant to be "all about celebrating films" to diverge strongly from its past editions and other major European festivals, its new artistic director said.

"I tried to redesign strongly the festival," Antonio Monda told Xinhua in an interview.

"A crucial difference from past editions is that I decided to cut awards and ceremonies, with the exception of the audience's award. This year's festival is all about the movies," said Monda.

Indeed, with no official jury, no opening or closing ceremonies, no different sections for the films, and no awards left but the audience's prize, this year's Festival showed quite a different face.

That was a declared purpose for Monda, an Italian writer and associate professor of Italian cinema and Hollywood authors at New York University who was appointed in February to revive the major event after a few quite troubled years.

The Fest displayed 37 films from 24 countries this year.

"We cut down from about 100 (in last edition) to 37, trying to push up quality," Monda explained.

The other crucial factor driving the selection was variety.

"We wanted to choose something that was highly personal and, at the same time, universal," he said.

The Festival line-up included "Truth", a political drama by James Vanderbilt about the end of CBS anchor Dan Rather's career starring Robert Redford and Kate Blanchet, and "Freeheld" by Peter Sollett, featuring Julianne Moore and Ellen Page as a lesbian couple in New Jersey.

There were also "The End of the Tour" of James Ponsoldt about writer David Foster Wallace, and China's box office record breaker Monster Hunt by Raman Hui.

The section "Close Encounters" offered conversations with actors, filmmakers, and other personalities such as Joel Coen and Frances McDormand, Jude Law, Paolo Sorrentino, novelist Donna Tartt with Wes Anderson, William Friedkin with Dario Argento, Todd Haynes, architect Renzo Piano, and conductor Riccardo Muti.

Overall, the new director said he did not fear the choice not to give out prizes or awards would make the event less attractive to filmmakers.

"If we do an award ceremony one month after Venice (festival), it would be a 'Venice, part two' or even a 'B Venice', and we do not want that," Monda explained.

Rome Film Fest would also have its own strong points in comparison with other big film festivals in Europe, such as those in Cannes, Venice, or London.

"We have a very strong market, which is something important," Monda said.

"Plus, we just have a very different approach. Nobody makes encounters like we do, for example: a novelist like Tartt in conversation with a filmmaker such as Anderson; an architect like Piano talking about architecture in cinema, or a conductor like Muti about music in films."

"We do not do just red carpet ... It is all about celebrating films. It is something I started (this year), persuading the donors about, and I am sure next year it will be even better," he stressed.

Monda commented positively on the two Chinese films selected this year: fantasy adventure film Monster Hunt, which was the highest-grossing film ever in China, and musical comedy-drama Office by Johnnie To.

"Monster Hunt is a huge success in China, and I am very much proud to have it here."

"It is an interesting piece of filmmaking, unusual, and very different from all the ones we have experienced from the Chinese world," he said.

"Office is by a major filmmaker such as Johnnie To, and it is a musical, which is something completely different. It is a great work of craft and art," he added.

Monda also acknowledged Chinese filmmakers were growingly finding more space among the Western audience.

"Until a few years ago, we knew only about a small number of Chinese filmmakers such as Zhang Yimou, for example. Now we have started to learn more about the extraordinary Chinese cinema culture, and are getting to know more and more names," he said.

As such, the relation between the Festival and Chinese films might strengthen along the time.

"My goal would be to make Rome (festival) more popular for the Chinese audience, and have more Chinese films here," Ronda said. Endit