Rome Film Festival 2026: juries for the twenty-first edition announced

The Rome Film Festival 2026 has chosen the juries that will award the prizes for its twenty-first edition, scheduled from 13 to 25 October. The Polish director and screenwriter Jan Komasa will preside over the Progressive Cinema – Visions for the World of Tomorrow competition. Ludovica Rampoldi will instead lead the jury called to assign the Best First Poste Italiane Film Award, while Roberto Minervini will be president of the one dedicated to the Best Documentary. The festival will have its heart at the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, also involving other places in the capital.

Jan Komasa president of the Progressive Cinema jury

Sitting next to Jan Komasa will be the Brazilian actress and producer Alice Braga, the Jordanian, Palestinian and 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.

The jury will be asked to evaluate the 18 titles selected for the Progressive Cinema Competition, the international competitive section of the Festival dedicated to "Visions for the world of tomorrow".

Seven awards are expected: Best Film, Grand Jury Prize, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress Award, Best Actor Award and Special Jury Award. The latter may be awarded in a category chosen by the president and the other members of the jury.

Ludovica Rampoldi leads the jury of first works

A specific space will be reserved for the debuts with the Poste Italiane Best First Film Award, a transversal recognition that takes into consideration a selection of films from the different sections of the Festival.

The jury will be chaired by the Italian screenwriter and director Ludovica Rampoldi, supported by the French director Pauline Loquès and the Romanian director, screenwriter and producer Corneliu Porumboiu.

The transversal nature of the prize means that the choice will not be limited only to the titles of the Progressive Cinema Competition, but may concern first works presented in the different sections of the event, as provided for by the Festival's regulations.

In-depth analysis

Rome Film Festival 2025, the program of the twenty-first edition

Roberto Minervini president of the documentary jury

The third jury will be chaired by the Italian director Roberto Minervini. With him there will be the Spanish producer Andrea Queralt and the Argentine-British director Jessica Sarah Rinland.

The three will award the Prize to the Best Documentary, choosing from a cross-section of titles from the different sections of the Festival.

The recognition, introduced in the previous edition, is dedicated to works that explore the forms of real cinema and thus joins the international competition and the prize intended for first works in the Rome Film Festival's recognition system.