Sorrentino to present Javier Bardem’s Lifetime Achievement Award at Rome festival

The 21st Festa del Cinema di Roma runs from 13 to 25 October 2026 at the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone. Javier Bardem is among its honourees. He will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award, which Salvatore Nastasi, president of the Fondazione Cinema per Roma, announced on 14 September on a proposal from artistic director Paola Malanga. Miamarket gives the festival dates as 14 to 25 October.

Paolo Sorrentino will present the award during a screening of El Ser Querido, the Rodrigo Sorogoyen film in which Bardem plays Esteban Martínez, a director whose past includes violence and excess. The award arrives inside a festival that pairs a competition and world premieres with a dedicated Best of 2026 section.

What the career award recognises

The festival’s announcement calls Bardem one of the most important actors in the world. He won the Oscar for No Country for Old Men, the Coen brothers’ film, and has been nominated for Being the Ricardos, Biutiful and Before Night Falls. He also received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

His career includes work with Woody Allen, Sam Mendes, Denis Villeneuve, Julian Schnabel, Aaron Sorkin and Alejandro Amenábar. Earlier films listed include Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Skyfall. The announcement presents the award as recognition of his career.

The announcement also lists current work. Dune: Part Three is due in December, with Bardem returning as Stilgar. He is executive producer and star of Cape Fear, an Apple TV+ miniseries with Amy Adams, which Cinefilos says Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg produced. He also appears with Brad Pitt in F1: The Movie. Hello & Paris, for Amazon MGM Studios with Kate Hudson, has recently finished filming. Bunker, directed by Florian Zeller with Penélope Cruz for Sony Pictures Classics, was presented at the Venice Film Festival.

Announcement date
Salvatore Nastasi, president of the Fondazione Cinema per Roma, announced Javier Bardem’s Lifetime Achievement Award on 14 September 2026, on the proposal of artistic director Paola Malanga.

El Ser Querido in the Best of 2026 section

El Ser Querido is one of 11 titles in the festival’s Best of 2026 section. The others include Fatherland, Fjord, Minotaur, Nina Roza and The Only Living Pickpocket in New York.

The film was shown at the most recent Cannes Festival, where Cinefilos describes it as one of the most acclaimed titles. Bardem will present the film to the audience, according to Cinefilos, and the award is handed over during the screening.

In the film, Bardem plays Esteban Martínez, a director whose past is marked by violence and excess. Sorogoyen directed it, and the festival lists the film under its Spanish title.

The Progressive competition and its prizes

The Concorso Progressive Cinema, subtitled Visioni per il Mondo di Domani, has 18 titles, with no distinction made between fiction, documentary and animation. They include Diego Luna’s Ceniza en la boca, Susanna Nicchiarelli’s Giorni felici, Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters, Clio Barnard’s I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, Tim Blake Nelson’s The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd and Kasia Smutniak’s Mustang. Other entries include Michał Marczak’s Closure, Frauke Finsterwalder’s Eurotrash and Blerta Basholli’s Dua.

The competition prizes are Best Film, the Grand Jury Prize, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Actor and a Special Jury Prize.

Three further awards are listed: the Premio del Pubblico Terna, the audience award; the Premio Miglior Opera Prima Poste Italiane for best first feature; and the Premio al Miglior Documentario. Five films are candidates for the first-feature award: Closure, Congo Boy, Gæsten (The Guest), Thit-Thee Khu (Fruit Gathering) and Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep. Closure, Mustang and Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep are candidates for best documentary.

The opening film and the Grand Public line-up

Paolo Genovese’s Il rumore delle cose nuove opens the festival in the Grand Public section. The film is based on Genovese’s novel, and he adapted it for the screen with Igor Artibani. It follows three couples in the same Milan district, each from a different social background, who are held back by emotional barriers until an unexpected event forces them to reassess their relationships.

The cast includes Emanuela Fanelli, Claudia Pandolfi as Viola, Vittoria Puccini, Stefano Accorsi, Lino Musella and Edoardo Pesce, with a special appearance by Claudio Santamaria. Production companies are Lotus Production and Rai Cinema, in collaboration with Disney+ and in association with Vice Pictures.

Miamarket notes that the film follows the success of FolleMente, which won two Nastri d’Argento in 2025 and was Italy’s second-highest-grossing film that year. Il rumore delle cose nuove opens in Italian cinemas on 12 November 2026 through 01 Distribution, and Rai Cinema International Distribution handles its international sales. DJ and broadcaster Ema Stokholma hosts the opening ceremony.

The Grand Public section also includes the world premieres Me, You by Bille August and Le Fantôme de l’Opéra by Alexandre Castagnetti, and works by Jesse Eisenberg, Taika Waititi, Fatih Akin, Peter Farrelly, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Simon Stone, Francesco Bruni and Daniele Luchetti. The Special Screenings include numerous documentaries, among them Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie, Lorenzo – L’incredibile avventura di Jovanotti and Mohammad Rasoulof’s Sense of Water.

The award arrives inside a festival that pairs a competition and world premieres with a dedicated Best of 2026 section.

Industry honours and other prizes

Tessa Ross receives the Industry Lifetime Achievement Award, which Cinefilos lists as presented by Edward Berger. Ross was Oscar-nominated for Conclave, produced Danny Boyle’s Ink, and has executive producer credits on films including Billy Elliot and The Zone of Interest.

The festival also lists a Progressive Career Award, a new Banca Ifis Music Award made with the Fondazione Cinema per Roma and the Fondazione Musica per Roma, and a prize dedicated to Gillo Pontecorvo. The Pontecorvo prize is marking the 20th anniversary of his death.

The Storia del Cinema section includes documentaries curated by Gian Luca Farinelli and Bruno Deloye. Its restorations include Trainspotting, Fight Club, Boogie Nights, L’Eclisse and Billy Liar.

Dates, venues and open details

Turismo Roma and Cinefilos give 13 to 25 October as the festival dates, and Quotidiano di Sicilia gives the same range. Miamarket gives 14 to 25 October for the same edition.

Turismo Roma lists venues beyond the main auditorium: Teatro Palladium, Giulio Cesare, Teatro Olimpico, MAXXI, Casa del Cinema, AuditoriumArte, Nuovo Teatro Ateneo – Sapienza CREA and Sant’Angelo Castle. It also links to a MIC Card discount agreement and directs readers to romacinemafest.it for the full programme.

The Freestyle section lists 15 films, 12 arts titles and 11 series. The series were made in collaboration with the Fondazione Roma Lazio Film Commission.

Photo: Colleen Sturtevant · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons