Ordinary film buffs with an extraordinary task

By Alexandra Capriotti

This isn’t the Venice Film Festival.

Instead of black-clad directors viewing films with critical sneers, 50 wide-eyed members of the movie-viewing public hold the deciding votes for the top awards at the RomeFilmFest. The People’s Jury will consider the 14 top films of the festival and will crown the Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Film awards, honors that carry a 200,000 euro cash prize.

It was no easy task to make the People’s Jury. A committee headed by famed Italian director Ettore Scola took weeks to personally interview 300 candidates. Narrowing down the jury, he selected everyday Romans, from gli adolescenti to i nonni, teachers, students and retirees too.

Their diversity of career, age and gender is bridged only by their love of the cinema.

And their test? They had to assign and discuss a literary award with Scola’s committee. It wasn’t their knowledge of film that was tested, but rather their ability to work on a team and to stand boldly by their own opinion while respecting others. Scola’s committee chose 40; monthly cinema magazine “Ciak” and MTV Italia selected the rest.

Organizers at the festival chose a People’s Jury because they are determined to focus the event on the tastes of the public. They stressed to the Italian News Agency ANSA that the Rome festival has different aims than the Venice Film Festival. “There is space for a festival that defines itself as an event with a populist nature, one that puts the public at its center. European cinema needs new lifeblood,” festival president Goffredo Bettini told reporters. Mayor Walter Veltroni, another ardent supporter of the festival's communal aspect, told reporters that it aims to “involve the entire city” rather than create another film industry schmoozefest.

Not everyone is happy with the decision to allow everyday cinemaphiles the chance to determine the big cash awards. Most every film festival have jury panels made exclusively of top actors and directors to decide the main awards. A People’s Choice Award is usually a separate, lesser category. Barbara Pullera, a long-time employee of the Cinema Alcazar in Trastevere, says, “It would be better to have a jury of both regular citizens and professionals in the film industry. If you just have one or the other, the vote will not be representative of everyone.”

Long after the festival closes, after the awards have been given out, attention no doubt will linger over the People’s Jury. Getting 50 Italians to agree on anything is no easy feat. When there are 600,000 euros on the line, we're all critics.