Yesterday afternoon, at the Sala Petrassi of the Ennio Morricone Auditorium in the Parco della Musica, the awards ceremony for the twenty-first edition of the Festa del Cinema di Roma, scheduled for October 13 to 25, 2026, took place. The recognitions awarded, both yesterday and during the Festival, are numerous and divided into sections. Here is the full list:
Progressive Cinema Competition
The jury – chaired by the Polish director and screenwriter Jan Komasa, joined by Brazilian actress and producer Alice Braga, the Jordanian-Palestinian-Canadian actress and poet Saja Kilani, the Spanish director, screenwriter and editor Carlos Marques-Marcet, and the Italian-American director and screenwriter Alessio Rigo de Righi – awarded the following recognitions:
Best Film: I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning by Clio Barnard
Grand Jury Prize: The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd by Tim Blake Nelson
Best Screenplay: Abia Castillo, Diego Rabasa, Diego Luna for Ceniza en la boca (Ashes)
Best Directing: Rafiki Fariala for Congo Boy
Best Actress: Victoria Luengo for Sants
Best Actor – ex aequo: Anthony Boyle for I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning
Best Actor – ex aequo: Paolo Pierobon for Brianza
Special Jury Prize: awarded to the Al Mawla family for Ieri notte non ho dormito
Poste Italiane Best Debut Film
Among a cross-section of fourteen titles drawn from different sections of the Festival, the jury chaired by Italian screenwriter and director Ludovica Rampoldi, joined by the French director Pauline Loquès and the Romanian director, screenwriter and producer Corneliu Porumboiu, awarded the Poste Italiane Best Debut Film Award to the film:
Clementine Orange by Lisa Lisa Forslund (Freestyle section)
A Special Mention was also awarded to the film El tren fluvial (The River Train) by Lorenzo Ferro and Lucas A. Vignale (Freestyle section).
Best Documentary Award
A cross-section of fourteen titles from different sections of the Festival formed the pool for the jury chaired by the Italian filmmaker Roberto Minervini, and composed of the Spanish producer Andrea Queralt and the Argentine-British director Jessica Sarah Rinland, which awarded the Best Documentary Award to:
Dans la gueule de l’ogre (Into the Jaws of the Ogre) by Mahsa Karampour (Special Screenings)
A Special Mention was also given to the documentary Un hiver russe (A Russian Winter) by Patric Chiha (Special Screenings).
Terna Audience Award
Among the titles of the Progressive Cinema Competition, the audience awarded the Terna Audience Award to the following films:
Congo Boy by Rafiki Fariala – ex aequo
Mustang by Kasia Smutniak – ex aequo
The Awards That Were Given During the Rome Film Festival 2026
Industry Lifetime Achievement Award to Tessa Ross
Career Award to Javier Bardem
Career Award to Julianne Moore
Progressive Career Award to Anthony Ippolito
Additionally, for the first time, the following recognitions were awarded:
Banca Ifis Music Award to Nicola Piovani
Gillo Pontecorvo Prize to Emmanuel Marre for the film Un uomo del suo tempo
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