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The Rome Independent Cinema Festival will take place on 12th September at the Casa del Cinema.
The Rome Independent Cinema Festival 2025 programme combines short and feature-length films of various genres and styles. Highlighting new talents, upcoming filmmakers and established cinematographers, the RICF is a celebration of independent cinema. From documentary and fiction to experimental and animation films, this year's programme spotlights the power of new voices.
NOMINATIONS
MEET THE JURY
Jury in the Feature Film (Fiction) category
Luca Malavasi is a professor at the University of Genoa, where he teaches Film History and Visual Culture. His work focuses primarily on contemporary cinema and media. He has written and edited books on film theory and history, and authored essays and volumes on Arthur Penn, Agnès Varda, David Lynch, and Christopher Nolan.
Jury in the Short Film (Fiction) category
Salman Alam Khan is a Los Angeles–based Pakistani filmmaker whose work explores themes of cultural diversity and identity. As a director and producer, his films have screened at international festivals and earned multiple awards. In 2023, he was a finalist for the Tasveer Film Fund supported by Netflix. His latest film, The Permanent Guest, is set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) as an executive producer.
Jury in the Short Film (Experimental) category
Marius Olteanu is a writer-director born in Bucharest. His feature debut MONSTERS (2019) premiered in Berlinale Forum, where it won The Tagesspiegel Audience Award, after which it was showcased in more than 50 international festivals and won awards such as the Best Film at Sofia IFF, Best Debut at Goa IFF and Best Romanian Debut at TIFF. Marius’s interest as a writer and director lies in finding new cinematic ways to convey the struggle with one’s own limitations. He is currently in post production with his latest feature, WE WON’T GET OLD TOGETHER, projected to premiere in 2026.
Jury in the Student Film category
Victoria Yakubova is a director, writer, and producer living in Paris.
Her first feature film, Olma Djon, which won its very first award at the Rome Independent Film Festival, went on to receive a total of 60 awards worldwide.
Her second feature film CHEZ MOI, which she co-directed and based on her own book, was presented out of competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in the immersive section. Victoria was born in Uzbekistan (USSR), then moved to Israel, and today she lives and works in Paris.
WINNERS
