Rome Film Fest 2026: Films, Guests, Tickets and Visitor Guide
The Rome Film Fest returns from October 13–25 with international premieres, Italian cinema, major guests and screenings across Rome. Here is how to follow the program and attend.
The Last One for the Road (2025): Friendship and Detours in Veneto
Francesco Sossai’s The Last One for the Road follows an architecture student and two unlikely companions through Veneto in a funny, thoughtful story of friendship.
Vermiglio (2024): Maura Delpero’s Moving Portrait of Family and Change
Maura Delpero’s Vermiglio follows a family in the Italian Alps as war, love, and change reshape their lives. Discover its story, cast, awards, and viewing options.
La chimera (2023): Alice Rohrwacher’s Tale of Lost Love and Buried Treasure
Alice Rohrwacher’s La chimera follows a grieving outsider and a group of Etruscan tomb robbers. Discover its story, cast, awards, and U.S. and Italian viewing options.
Io Capitano (2023): Matteo Garrone’s Powerful Journey of Hope
Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano follows two Senegalese teenagers on a dangerous journey toward Europe. Explore its performances, awards, and powerful human story.
The Hand of God: Paolo Sorrentino’s Story of Naples, Loss and Cinema
Paolo Sorrentino returns to the Naples of his youth in The Hand of God, a moving story of family, football and loss. Explore its cast, awards and viewing options.
Happy as Lazzaro (2018): Alice Rohrwacher’s Moving Modern Fable
Alice Rohrwacher’s Happy as Lazzaro follows a young farmworker whose kindness exposes the inequalities around him. Discover its story, performances, Cannes recognition, and where to watch.
Gomorrah (2008): Matteo Garrone’s Unflinching Crime Drama
Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah follows five stories shaped by the Camorra. Explore its cast, filmmaking, major awards, and U.S. and Italian viewing options.
The Son’s Room (2001): Nanni Moretti’s Moving Film About Grief
Nanni Moretti’s The Son’s Room follows an Italian family through loss and the difficult return to daily life. Explore its story, cast, awards, and viewing options.
Let’s Hope It’s a Girl (1986): Monicelli’s Portrait of Women and Family
Mario Monicelli’s Let’s Hope It’s a Girl follows a Tuscan household facing debt, change, and uncertain relationships. Discover its remarkable cast and enduring appeal.
Il Postino (The Postman): Massimo Troisi’s Moving Story of Poetry and Friendship
Massimo Troisi and Philippe Noiret bring warmth and depth to Il Postino, a story of poetry, friendship, and finding your voice. Explore its cast, awards, island locations, and U.S. and Italian viewing options.
There’s Still Tomorrow (2023): Paola Cortellesi’s Powerful Debut
Paola Cortellesi’s There’s Still Tomorrow follows a woman seeking freedom in postwar Rome. Discover its story, performances, awards, and viewing options.
Mediterraneo: Gabriele Salvatores’ Oscar-Winning Film About Escape and Friendship
Gabriele Salvatores’ Mediterraneo follows eight Italian soldiers who find an unexpected life on a Greek island. I look at its humor, friendships, Oscar success and questions about escape.
The Best of Youth: A Family Story Through Modern Italy
Marco Tullio Giordana’s The Best of Youth follows an Italian family through decades of love, conflict, and change. A guide to its story, cast, awards, and viewing options.
The Great Beauty: Paolo Sorrentino’s Rome of Beauty and Regret
Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty follows Toni Servillo through a dazzling, restless Rome. A guide to its story, characters, awards and viewing options.
Ricomincio da tre: Massimo Troisi’s Warm and Witty Film Debut
Massimo Troisi’s Ricomincio da tre follows a young man from Naples to Florence in search of change. Its gentle humor, memorable performances, and warm view of uncertainty still resonate.
Suspiria: Dario Argento’s Italian Horror Classic
A ballet academy hides a terrifying secret in Dario Argento’s Suspiria. Read about its cast, striking colors, Goblin score, and viewing options.
Amarcord: Fellini’s Unforgettable Portrait of Small-Town Italy
My guide to Fellini’s Amarcord, a vivid portrait of provincial Italy, with its unforgettable characters, award history and U.S. and Italian viewing options.
Il sorpasso (The Easy Life): Dino Risi’s Classic Italian Road Movie
Dino Risi’s Il sorpasso pairs Vittorio Gassman and Jean-Louis Trintignant in a summer road trip that reveals the pleasures and contradictions of modern Italy.
Rocco and His Brothers: Visconti’s Powerful Portrait of Family and a Changing Italy
Luchino Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers follows a southern Italian family seeking a new life in Milan. Here is why its powerful drama still matters, with cast, awards and viewing options.
Honey (Miele): Valeria Golino’s Moving Directorial Debut
Valeria Golino’s Honey (Miele) follows a young woman whose secret work assisting terminally ill people is challenged by an unexpected encounter. Read about its story, performances, awards, and viewing options.
Italian Movie Award Winners: Oscars, Cannes, Venice and More
A guide to award-winning Italian films, from neorealist classics to recent Venice winners, with clear award categories and short introductions to each movie.
Mia Madre: Nanni Moretti’s Moving Film About Family, Grief and Cinema
Nanni Moretti’s Mia Madre combines family drama and filmmaking comedy in a moving portrait of grief, starring Margherita Buy and John Turturro.
Life Is Beautiful: Roberto Benigni’s Story of Love, Sacrifice and Survival
Roberto Benigni’s Life Is Beautiful combines romance, comedy and tragedy in a story of parental love. Read about its cast, awards, historical debate and viewing options.
Cinema Paradiso: Sicily, Memory and a Lifelong Love of Movies
Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso brings together Sicily, childhood, friendship and the love of movies. Read about its story, awards, filming locations, different versions and viewing options.
Divorce Italian Style: Pietro Germi’s Brilliant Comedy of Marriage, Murder and Hypocrisy
Marcello Mastroianni turns a murderous Sicilian baron into an unforgettable comic character in Pietro Germi’s satire of marriage, honor and hypocrisy.
The Leopard (Il Gattopardo): Visconti’s Sicilian Epic of Power and Change
Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard follows a Sicilian prince confronting a changing Italy. A guide to its story, cast, awards, locations, different versions and viewing options.
L’avventura: The Mystery That Changed Italian Cinema
Michelangelo Antonioni begins L’avventura with a disappearance, then turns a mystery into a searching portrait of desire, guilt, and isolation.
8½ (Otto e mezzo): Fellini Turns a Creative Crisis into Cinema
A director cannot find his next film, and Fellini turns his crisis into one of cinema’s most inventive stories. Here is a guide to 8½, from its cast and awards to where you can watch or buy it.
La Dolce Vita: Fellini’s Rome Beyond the Glamour
Fellini’s Rome glitters with stars, parties and unforgettable images. Behind them, La Dolce Vita follows a journalist losing sight of the life he wants.
Rome, Open City (Roma città aperta): The Film That Changed Italian Cinema
Roberto Rossellini filmed occupied Rome while the war was still fresh. Here is why Rome, Open City remains essential, and how to find it in the U.S. or Italy.
Bicycle Thieves (1948): The Italian Film That Made a Stolen Bicycle Matter to the World
A stolen bicycle puts one family’s future at risk in Vittorio De Sica’s landmark of Italian neorealism. Here is why the film still matters and where to watch it.
Ritornato: Michael Cavalieri’s Return to His Sicilian Roots
Michael Cavalieri is an actor, writer and director whose film, RITORNATO, was recently chosen for a grant by the National Italian American Foundation.
Watch Italian Movies Online Free: Streaming and Download Guide
Browse Italian movies available to stream free online, including classics, comedies, dramas and selected films with English subtitles or dubbing.
Italian Film Festivals Beyond Venice: Turin, Rome, Bologna and More
Italy’s cinema calendar extends far beyond Venice. This guide explores the distinctive festivals of Turin, Rome, Bologna, Trieste, Udine, Pordenone, Giffoni, Taormina and other Italian cities.
Queer Italian Cinema: Directors, Changing Representation and 10 Essential Films
From Visconti and Pasolini to Özpetek, Guadagnino and Crialese, discover how Italian cinema portrays LGBTQ lives, with ten essential films and where to watch them.
15 Italian Films Based on Remarkable True Stories
These 15 Italian films transform extraordinary true stories into compelling cinema, revealing the people, crimes, conflicts and acts of courage that shaped modern Italy.
Sergio Leone: Biography, Films and Legacy of the Italian Director Who Reinvented the Western
Sergio Leone reinvented the Western through extreme close-ups, prolonged suspense, morally ambiguous characters and Ennio Morricone’s unforgettable music. This biography follows his life from Cinecittà apprentice to internationally influential director.
Venice Film Festival: Winners, Films, Stars and Highlights
Woman Unknown won the Golden Lion at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, while Mathilde Arcel, John Malkovich, Lee Chang-dong and Ilya Khrzhanovsky received major awards.
For a Few Dollars More: Sergio Leone’s Classic Spaghetti Western
Sergio Leone’s For a Few Dollars More united Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef in an inventive tale of bounty hunters, revenge and uneasy partnership. Here is why the second chapter of the Dollars Trilogy remains one of the greatest Westerns ever made.
A Fistful of Dollars: Sergio Leone’s Revolutionary Spaghetti Western
Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars transformed the traditional Western, introduced Clint Eastwood’s legendary Man with No Name, and began one of the most influential trilogies in movie history.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Sergio Leone’s Western Masterpiece
Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly transformed the western through operatic direction, unforgettable antiheroes and Ennio Morricone’s iconic music. Learn why this Italian production remains one of the most influential films ever made.
Buen Camino by Checco Zalone: The Record-Breaking Italian Box Office Phenomenon
Discover how Buen Camino became the highest-grossing film in Italian history, breaking decades-old records. Explore Checco Zalone's incredible career and the must-watch movies that made him Italy's biggest comedy star.
Top 10 Italian Movies of the Past Year (2025–2026): The Best New Italian Films You Should Watch
Discover the top 10 Italian movies released over the past year, featuring award-winning dramas, comedies, thrillers, and biographical films. Explore cast, plot summaries, and why these modern Italian films are must-watch cinema.
Italian Cinema: 100 Years of Masterpieces That Shaped World Film
A decade-by-decade journey through 100 essential Italian films, offering a panoramic view of Italy’s cinematic legacy from the 1920s to the 2020s.
Pier Paolo Pasolini: Life, Poetry, Films, Politics and Controversial Death
Pier Paolo Pasolini was a poet, novelist, filmmaker and political critic whose work exposed the contradictions of postwar Italy. This authoritative biography examines his literature, cinema, politics, controversies, murder and enduring cultural influence.
Sandokan Reborn: Can Yaman, Colonial Drama, and the Legacy of a Literary Pirate
Explore the enduring fiction of Sandokan and the modern revival led by Can Yaman, blending classic adventure, emotional depth, and cultural legacy.
Federico Fellini: Biography, Films and the Visionary World of Italian Cinema
Federico Fellini transformed Italian cinema through unforgettable films including La Strada, La Dolce Vita, 8½ and Amarcord. This comprehensive biography explores his childhood in Rimini, marriage and creative partnership with Giulietta Masina, collaborations with Marcello Mastroianni and Nino Rota, major awards, recurring themes and enduring international influence.