AwardsWatch

Oscar, Emmy, and Tony-winning actress Viola Davis will be the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 14^th Rome Film Fest (17-27 October 2019). The announcement was made by the Artistic Director Antonio Monda and Laura Delli Colli, President of Fondazione Cinema per Roma, in agreement with Francesca Via, General Manager. One of the most acclaimed figures in international cinema, Davis will also participate in a “Close Encounter”, an onstage conversation where she will discuss her career in film, television, and theatre.

"Viola Davis is an extraordinary actress, who has transformed sincerity and dignity into sublime thespian art – declared Antonio Monda. It is a great honour for me, and for the Rome Film Fest, to celebrate her formidable talent and deep humanity".

Davis is the first African American actress to win an Oscar, Tony, and Emmy. She is a three-time Academy Award nominee and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Fences in 2017. She is a two-time Tony Award winner for her work in Fences and King Hedley II. In 2015, she became the first African American actress to receive the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for “How to Get Away with Murder” and was nominated for the same role in 2016 and 2019.

The Rome Film Fest will once again bestow two Lifetime Achievement Awards. As previously announced, the other Lifetime Achievement Award will be conferred to Bill Murray by Wes Anderson.

Tornare by Cristina Comencini will be the closing film of the 2019 Rome Film Fest. The highly anticipated new film by the Roman filmmaker, Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign-Language Film (Don't Tell) and winner of two Nastro d'Argento awards - one for Best Screenplay for The Best Day of My Life and a Special one for Latin Lover - is set in the 1990s in Naples. The main character is Alice, a forty-year old woman who returns from America after a lengthy absence when her father dies. Alice and her sister decide to sell the family home, but they must first clear it of the objects of a lifetime. Unexpectedly, Alice discovers that there is young and beautiful woman living in the house. The dialogue she begins with her is intense and promising, as is the bond she creates with Marc, a kind and fascinating man she meets at her father's memorial service. A new, intriguing and dangerous world takes shape around Alice, which sheds light on her past and her existence. The cast of Tornare includes Giovanna Mezzogiorno, who has worked with Cristina Comencini in the past in Don't Tell, and Vincenzo Amato (Respiro and Nuovomondo by Emanuele Crialese). The film is produced by Lumière & Co. with Rai Cinema and is distributed by Vision Distribution.

“I am honoured to close the Rome Film Fest with Cristina Comencini’s film - said Antonio Monda. “I admire the courage and honesty with which she portrays grief in the splendid setting of Naples seen as no one has ever shown it before in Italian cinema”.