The Rome Film Festival (RFF) was born in 2006. For two years there’s been in Italy a confrontation between Rome and the oldest film festival, Venice Film Festival (VFF) and the Turin Film Festival (TFF). All these FFs take place from the end of summer to the end of autumn. The VFF was born in 1932, it’s the oldest FF in the world. It starts the end of August. The TFF was born in 1982 and starts at the end of November. The RFF holds mid-October.

The management of VFF wants to defend his primacy in Italy based on his history.
But in Venice there aren’t good structures like a cinema hall and sponsors, and so productions have begun to give a look to Rome.

The RFF was made by Walter Veltroni, mayor of Rome and recently elected leader of the new Democratic Party. Veltroni loves cinema and has many friends in this domain. The RFF has a lot of sponsors and wants to be a spectacular event with international stars and a red carpet. But it has a film competition too, like Venice and Turin, and now these three FFs compete for the best films.

The TFF is historically oriented to the indies and the young directors. Its new art director is Nanni Moretti (Gold Palm in Cannes 2001). He said that the dates of the RFF are unbecoming for his festival and that some films, like Juno (the winner of the RFF) and Peur du noir, like attending the RFF better.

In 2006 the art director of VFF, Marco Muller, said that Rome takes the movies rejected by his Festival.

The RFF is the only one that has a film market, the Business Street. And that attracts foreign capital.

Francesco Rutelli, Minister for the Cultural Heritage, member of the Democratic Party, admits there is a problem in the proximity of dates, but he said that each Italian FF has its own quality.