'Twilight' Saga Marathon Among Highlights at Rome Film Fest Tuesday

ROME – Tuesday was Twilight Saga day at the International Rome Film Festival, with the international launch of the latest installment of the franchise and a special movie marathon that will take fans into the twilight hours of Wednesday.

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The international premiere of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2  took place in Rome without high-profile stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, who were at the U.S. launch of the film at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. But that hasn’t done much to curb enthusiasm from crowds of the film’s fans at a Rome festival that has been criticized for doing too little to attract more interest from the public.

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The local media reported Monday that Paolo Ferrari, festival president, admitted the festival was suffering from “difficulties” but he said he still believed attendance targets would be reached by the time the event draws to a close Saturday.

If it does it will no doubt be helped by the interest swirling around The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2. In a special marathon event separate from the official screening of the film, the festival will screen the entire Twilight Saga series starting at 11 p.m. local time Tuesday and concluding before dawn, at, well, twilight on Wednesday. Tickets for the event include a special musical selection and a gift for each participant. The event has caused a buzz among young people in the capital city.

The Twilight Saga moves the festival into the home stretch, with four full days remaining but most of the big name films yet to screen.

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Also attracting attention at the Rome festival was the in-competition screening of Marfa Girl, a small-town drama set in Marfa, Texas, that, according to director and screenwriter Larry Clark, represents the future of film marketing: after its well received Rome premiere, the film will skip a theatrical release and be available online from Clark’s website for a fee of $6.

“This is the future and the future is now,” the 69-year-old Clark told journalists.