‘Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 2’ to Premiere at Rome Film Festival

ROME – The world premiere of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 will be the highlight of the International Rome Film Festival’s Alice in the City sidebar, though paparazzi at the festival will be disappointed that the film’s high-profile stars, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, will not be in Rome for the premiere.

Alice in the City is the Rome festival’s only autonomous section, which is why it announced its lineup separate from that of the rest of the festival, to be unveiled on Wednesday. Alice in the City focuses on films oriented for a youth audience.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, a mega-budget adventure fantasy story directed by Bill Condon that continues the highly successful vampire franchise, is the one film in the Alice in the City sidebar that will screen in collaboration with the Rome festival itself. The rest of the program is independent of the festival.

VIDEO: Extended ‘Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 2’ Trailer Offers More Backstory

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 was among the films listed by The Hollywood Reporter as likely to screen during the Nov. 9-17 event. But at least some of the interest in the film was centered on a possible appearance by Stewart and Pattinson, whose high profile off-again-on-again romance has been gossip magazine fodder for weeks.

The film, which goes into wide release Nov. 14, is one of the most expensive ever made, with a reported budget of more than $130 million.

Among the other highlights: Wreck-it Ralph, an animated comedy directed by Rich Moore and written by Jennifer Lee and Phil Johnson, and featuring the voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman and Jack McBrayer; and Du vent dans mes mollets (The Dandelions), a French language comedy from Carine Tardieu. The Rome screening will be an international premiere for Wreck-it Ralph, and an Italian premiere for Du vent dans mes mollets. Both films will screen out of competition.

Alice in the City’s 12-film international competition will include: Babygirl, an Ireland/U.S. co-production from Macdara Vallely; Innocents from Singapore’s Chen-Hsi Wong; Italian production Pulce Non C’e’ from Giuseppe Bonito; and You and Me Forever from Denmark’s Kaspar Munk, who won Alice in the City’s award for first-time directors two years ago for Hold Me Tight.

The festival will feature an homage to 80-year-old Jean-Thomas “Tomi” Ungerer, the French author and illustrator that will include the third-ever screening of the animated film Moon Man (Ungerer did the drawings for the world famous book the film is based on) and the documentary Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story, from U.S. director Brad Bernstein.

The festival will also feature an early look at parts of Beautiful Creatures from Richard Lagravenese, based on the book trilogy from Kami Garcia and Margaret Stahl. The film will be released next year.

All told, the Alice in the City sidebar includes films produced or co-produced in 13 countries, led by six from France. Though only Vallely’s romantic drama Babygirl will screen in competition, the overall lineup includes five films produced or co-produced in the U.S., while host Italy, with three, and Ireland, with two, are the only countries with more than a single film screening.