The Capital city of Italy with 2.9 million inhabitants, Rome has a rich legacy in motion pictures dating back to the early 20th century with the creation of the Cinecittà Studios. Home to the largest film production facility in Europe, Rome became internationally renowned as the hub of Italian cinema. Adopted hometown of Federico Fellini, the so-called “Eternal City” has sustained its reputation as a vibrant city of film, and now supports a large sector with over 1,300 active enterprises in the film industry, generating an annual added value of about 750 million euros. In addition, Rome’s film market has significantly strengthened with strong public-private cooperation.

Every autumn since 2006, Rome welcomes a wide audience of 150,000 people from 25 countries to the International Rome Film Festival, which ranks among the top film festivals in the world. Following a week of film screenings, the audience is invited to reward the best films with People’s Choice Awards. This participative process highlights Rome’s steadfast commitment in making the film sector a key driver for social inclusion and cohesion. One of the sections of the Festival called Alice Nella Città is also unique by being devoted to films directed by children divided in two groups: the over-12 and under-12.

Local institutions have strongly supported the emergence of cultural and creative industries in the past five years. Amongst other supporting programmes, the Roma Provincia Creative has established a regional fund to benefit young creative entrepreneurs, as well as a social network to exchange and promote their innovative projects. In the film sector, the Culture and Tourism Department of Rome has developed an urban renewal programme to restart the activity of 42 abandoned movie theatres by commissioning small and medium-sized local cooperatives to revitalize urban areas with creativity and innovation.