Rome Film Festival Red Carpet - H 2013
Getty ImagesROME — The nine-year-old Rome Film Festival will return to its original October spot on the calendar, the festival said Friday, also confirming that third-year artistic director Marco Mueller would be back for the final year of his contract.
Mueller came to Rome after a successful eight-year-stint at the Venice Film Festival in 2012, and one of his first major pushes was to push the festival’s dates from their traditional spot in October, to November, where Mueller said it would act as a bridge between Venice and Toronto in September and Berlin in February.
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But the new dates clashed with the more established Turin Film Festival, which got underway the last two years less than a week after the Rome festival handed out its prizes. Turin again refused to change its dates this year, and instead it is Rome that will go back to its original spot on the calendar: it will take place this Oct. 16-25.
Friday’s announcement also quashed speculation that Mueller might depart from the festival before the end of his three-year contract.
The events budget issues may also be a thing of the past: key stakeholders agreed to a €10 million ($13.5 million) budget, reportedly more than in 2013.
Twitter: @EricJLyman
