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Elio Germano kick-starts the tenth RomaFictionFest

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- Unspooling from 7-11 December, the Rome-based gathering featuring the best in Italian and international fiction series, helmed by Giuseppe Piccioni, has ten titles in competition from all over Europe

Elio Germano kick-starts the tenth RomaFictionFest
A scene from In arte Nino

Last night, the tenth edition of the RomaFictionFest, a gathering specialising in the most interesting Italian and international TV series, kicked off with a screening of the new fiction series In arte Nino, starring Elio Germano in the role of iconic Italian actor Nino Manfredi. The festival will unspool until Sunday 11 December at the Space Cinema Moderno in Rome.

The rich line-up on offer at this year's RomaFictionFest – headed up for the first time by director Giuseppe Piccioni (who was in competition at Venice earlier this year with Questi giorni [+see also:
film review
trailer
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]
) – includes ten titles in the international competition, ten series premiering out of competition and 14 works in the Kids & Teens section, not to mention master classes, meetings and special events, all with a view to exploring the ever-closer ties between TV series and film.

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Among the titles in competition, which will be judged by a jury chaired by Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss (the star of Madoff, which is being premiered at the festival), we find a healthy number of European series: from France we have the political series from Canal + Baron Noir, starring Kad Merad, Niels Arestrup and Anna Mouglalis; from Belgium, the hit series Ennemi Public, with stage actor Angelo Bison in the role of a killer who is on probation in a monastery; and from the UK, National Treasure, based on a true story revolving around the sexual abuse of minors by big names in showbusiness. Also of note are Berlin Station, a US-German co-production about espionage, starring such names as Rhys Ifans and directed by the man behind The Double Hour [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Giuseppe Capotondi
film profile
]
, Giuseppe Capotondi, among others; two European co-productions: the crime-thriller Midnight Sun (France/Sweden), starring Leïla Bekhti and Gustaf Hammarsten, and Wasteland (Czech Republic/Poland), in which the disappearance of a 14-year-old brings to light disturbing truths in a small community in Bohemia; and the Italian series Di padre in figlia, the story of women's liberation in Italy between 1958 and 1980, directed by Riccardo Milani from a script by Cristina Comencini, and starring such names as Alessio Boni and Cristiana Capotondi.

Out of competition, we find three more Italian titles: the dramedy Amore pensaci tu (starring Emilio Solfrizzi, Filippo Nigro and Giulia Bevilacqua); Il confine, a story of young people during the First World War (starring Filippo Scicchitano and Caterina Shulha); and Immaturi – La serie, based on the successful film The Immature [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Paolo Genovese (read the news – starring Ricky Memphis, Luca Bizzarri, Paolo Kessisoglu and Sabrina Impacciatore), which will bring the 2016 edition of the gathering to a close. The premiere screenings out of competition include the British title Fleabag, following the countless misadventures of a young woman from London, and the new series of Maigret, produced by the son of Georges Simenon and starring Rowan Atkinson in the lead.

The RomaFictionFest will host the world premieres of When We Rise (USA), a miniseries written by Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black, about the movement for LGBT rights (the first two episodes of which were directed by Gus Van Sant), and Madiba (Canada/South Africa), focusing on the events that had an impact on Nelson Mandela's education. The Kids & Teens section will welcome such works as Ernest & Celestine (France), World of Winx (Italy) and Le nuove avventure di Geronimo Stilton (Italy/France).

Lastly, moving onto the master classes, there is one entitled “The Art of Making”, dedicated to Paolo Sorrentino's The Young Pope; a meeting with Pierfrancesco Diliberto and the cast of the series The Mafia Only Kills in Summer (read the news); and a conference entitled “Ten Years of the RomaFictionFest, Ten Thoughts on Series”, featuring a number of creators of Italian fiction.

RomaFictionFest is a Television Producers' Association (APT) brand; the event is produced by the Film Foundation for Rome, and is promoted by the Lazio Region and the Rome Chamber of Commerce.

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(Translated from Italian)

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