A Alicante Film Festival marks its 20th year with a cross-border collaboration tied to the Rome Film Festival in the Italian capital. The two events will run in tandem, with the Rome Short Film Festival serving as a partner venue and an exchange of award-winning shorts planned between the two celebrations.
The Alicante festival’s director highlighted the significance of reaching two decades. The 20th edition will take place from late May into early June 2023 and will feature a guest appearance at the International Fest Roma Film Corto, reinforcing the joint celebration of short film talent across borders.
Joining the presentation were several key figures: a youth policy advisor from Rome, the artistic director of the Rome Short Film Festival, the honorary director for international relations of the International Fest Roma Short Film International, and the cultural director of the European library in Rome. Their presence underscored the shared mission of these festivals to spotlight emerging voices from the region and beyond.
The organizers emphasized that the 20th anniversary would welcome the International Fest Roma Film Corto as a guest festival, aiming to showcase Italy’s robust film industry and its vibrant Mediterranean ties. The collaboration is a platform to celebrate great Italian talent and the connections that unite Italian and Spanish-speaking cinematic communities.
A sequence of short films from Rome’s latest festival edition was slated for screening in Alicante, with Petrocchi and Squillante joining the lineup. Looking ahead to December 2023, selected shorts from Alicante would participate in Roma Film Corto, which is organized as a showcase for short and medium-length fiction, documentary works, animation, and music videos. The event typically runs mid-December in Rome.
Petrocchi, the artistic director of the Rome festival, remarked that the collaboration would help elevate Roma Film Corto on an international stage and expressed gratitude to the Alicante festival’s leadership for their participation. He noted that pairing the two events could foster a dynamic exchange of talent, industry players, and distributors, and could promote joint productions and distribution opportunities between the two countries.
Adriano Squillante spoke about the evolution of the Alicante festival toward uniting Mediterranean countries, with a new guest country featured each year. Lorenzo Marionone, the Rome youth policy councilor, added that the cooperation between the two festivals represents a significant opportunity to increase talent visibility on a global scale, benefiting both amateur and professional filmmakers.