The Rome Film Festival is extending its duration and adding a day to its twenty-first edition. The event, originally scheduled from October 14 to 25, will begin on Tuesday, October 13, 2026 and will conclude, as previously announced, Sunday, October 25. The decision was taken by the Cinema for Rome Foundation in light of the increase in films submitted over the year and the requests received from producers and distributors, particularly from the independent cinema sector.
To formalize the change were the President of the Cinema for Rome Foundation, Salvatore Nastasi, and the Artistic Director, Paola Malanga. The addition of one day thus brings the Festival to thirteen days of overall programming, offering more space to a number of works that, according to the organizers, grew throughout the year.
Festa del Cinema di Roma: Il rumore delle cose nuove è il film d’apertura
The opening film will be The Noise of New Things by Paolo Genovese, which will be shown in the Grand Public section during the inaugural ceremony. The film is an ensemble story built around three couples who, though not knowing each other, share a similar condition: lives organized within reassuring boundaries that an unexpected event will ultimately challenge. The cast includes Emanuela Fanelli, Claudia Pandolfi, Vittoria Puccini, Stefano Accorsi, Lino Musella and Edoardo Pesce, with the participation of Claudio Santamaria.
The Noise of New Things is produced by Lotus Production, a company of Leone Film Group, with Rai Cinema, in collaboration with Disney+ and in association with Vice Pictures. The producers are Raffaella Leone and Andrea Leone, with Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio as associate producer for Vice Pictures.
The film will arrive in Italian theaters on November 12, 2026, distributed by 01 Distribution.
A Festival Increasingly Open to the Different Forms of the Audiovisual
The choice to extend the festival comes as the selection for the twenty-first edition is still being defined. The full program will indeed be released in the first days of October, through the festival’s official channels. The festival’s structure confirms an identity that goes beyond narrative cinema: the 2026 rules include national and international fiction, documentaries and animation, together with television series and streaming, music videos and video art. Since 2022 the Festival also hosts an international competition, alongside non-competitive sections, audience encounters, events, special screenings and tributes.
The festival’s main headquarters will once again be the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, which will host the main screening rooms and the traditional red carpet. The program will also involve other venues and cultural entities across the capital, maintaining the broad, city-wide dimension that characterizes the Roman event.
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