“We” by dutch director Rene Eller, an adaptation of the eponymous and controversial novel “Wij” by Elvis Peeters won the award for Best Feature Film at the 17th edition of the Rome Independent Film Festival – RIFF,  which took place from November 16 to 23, 2018. A special mention went to Serban for the film Alone at my Wedding by Marta Bergman, starring Alina Serban as Pamela, a young Roma different from all the others in her community.

A special mention for the best screenplay was given to Enrique Castro Rios for the film Decembers, “for the original script writing, telling the same story from three different optics of well-defined characters”. Decembers revolves around the American invasion of Panama in 1989 and the reconciliation among the survivors a decade later.

For the Italian documentary section, Amaranto by Emanuela Moroni and Manuela Cannone and The Fifth Sun by Cristiana Pecci and Matteo Maggi tied for the award for Best Italian Documentary.

On the international documentary front This is Love by John Alexander that tells the life of the obscure soul singer Rudy Love, an unknown author of one of the most played songs in the history of music won the award for Best International Documentary. The doc focuses on the power that has been exercised, for decades, by often unconscious listeners. His figure re-emerges thanks to the testimony of George Clinton and Jay Z and many others that reveal an unsung hero of the soul.

Best Short Film in the Italian selection the winner is Aleksia by Loris di Pasquale focused on an adolescent struggling with the concerns of unwanted motherhood.

A special mention went to Per Sempre by Alessio Di Cosimo with the participation of Lou Castel in the shoes of an old painter who lives in solitude in his small house facing the sea with a morning routine that breaks on a special and important day for him. That day has a task, like every year, always and forever its only reason for living.

For the International short section, the prize went to Karla Lulić’s In the name of Strawberry the Chocolate and the Holy Spirit starring a devoted priest in a village full of Christian fanatics who, on Sunday, after Mass, wants an ice cream and will do anything for this simple pleasure, even at the cost of one’s faith.

For the short films section realized by students, winner is Croste di Polenta by Emanuele Bonomi set in the South Tyrol of 1915: two friends want to desert the Imperial Army’s call to arms, but the conflict is getting closer and closer and the two boys will have to face the consequences. A story about lost innocence, forgotten traditions and choices that change life.

Finally, for the Short Animation section, O’Neil Burgi’s Cat Noir, story of a letter, a broken heart, the sound of rain, a black cat and a piano, won the award.