History

Rome Prisma Film Awards was founded by Stefano Perletta in 2018. Hosted by Cinema Azzurro Scipioni, in its first year it saw Silvano Agosti as the president of the jury, a legendary italian director that has worked alongside the greatest italian professionals like Storaro, Morricone, Piovani and many others. Over the course of its second year it moved to Cinema dei Piccoli, one of the oldest movie theaters of Rome in the heart of Villa Borghese park since 1934.

 

Our film screenings never stopped and we kept sharing independent cinema also during the Covid-19 pandemic, when we opened our Twitch channel where we have spread independent films worldwide and for free every month.

 

During the course of the years we have received more than 10.000 projects from 150+ countries in the world and we’ve been reviewed more than 800 times with 5 star on FilmFreeway, thus becoming the #1 most reviewed film festival in Europe and one of the best reviewed in general.

 

Our winning films have gone all the way to A-tier festivals like the short film August Sky by Jasmin Tenucci, winner of the Special Mention at Cannes Film Festival 2021, Censor of Dreams by Leo Berne and Raphaël Rodriguez, shortlisted in the 2022 edition of the Academy Awards, Nate Milton’s Eli from the official selection of Sundance Film FestivalKiss the Ground, the Netflix documentary starring Woody Harrelson, Patricia Arquette and Jason Mraz, and many others.

 

We never stop collecting the best of independent cinema from all kinds of budgets, genres and nationalities, presenting on the big screen a selection of the most unique films among those we receive every month.

 

In September 2020 we embarked on a new path under the curatorship of a new artistic director, Marcello Di Trocchio. During the Covid-19 pandemic that shut down festivals all over the world we created a monthly streaming on Twitch with a teeming community following us from every corner of the Earth. In July 2021, following the opening of cinemas in Italy, we moved to Cinema Farnese Arthouse in Campo De’ Fiori, where we currently have our screenings every four months.

 

In six years Rome Prisma Film Awards has grown into one of the most community driven festivals, hosting more than 150 directors from all over the world presenting films that are driven by an independent mentality, brave storytelling and innovation of forms.

 

We can’t wait to see, day after day, more interested viewers and more stimulating authors to join us in this beautiful, creative journey.

 

These are the Rome Prisma Film Awards. We look for meaning, we look for unity, we look for balance.

Timeline

April 2018

 

The Rome Prisma Film Awards are founded by Stefano Perletta
May 2018

 

First screening at Caffè Letterario, Rome
May 2019

 

First screening at Cinema Azzurro Scipioni with Silvano Agosti
September 2019

 

First screening at Cinema dei Piccoli in Villa Borghese
October 2019

 

Rome Prisma Film Awards become the #1 most reviewed FilmFreeway festival in Europe
September 2020

 

Beginning of Marcello Di Trocchio’s artistic direction
October 2020

 

Birth of the Prisma Community on Instagram
November 2020

 

First screenings on Twitch during the Covid-19 lockdowns
July 28, 2021

 

Back to the movies! First new live screening at Cinema Farnese Arthouse
January 2022

 

Adoption of our Ethics and Transparency Policy
July 28, 2022

 

Annual Ceremony at Isola del Cinema, the open-air arena on the Tiberina Island of Rome
September, 2022 –  Today

 

Quarterly live screenings at Cinema Farnese

FARNESE LIVE SCREENINGS

2023-2024

2022-2023

2021-2022

2019-2020

WE LOOK FOR MEANING, WE LOOK FOR UNITY, WE LOOK FOR BALANCE

 

Submissions are open.