Rome film festival unveils 2026 lineup including world premiere for Bille August’s ‘Me, You’

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Me, You

Source: Rome Film Fest

‘Me, You’

Rome Film Fest has unveiled its full 2026 lineup, which includes the world premiere of Oscar and Palme d’Or winner Bille August’s Me, You and Alexandre Castagnetti’s contemporary take on 19th-century classic The Phantom Of The Opera.

Me, You and The Phantom Of The Opera both play in Rome’s non-competitive Grand Public section. Rome Film Fest runs from October 13-25.

Set in post-Second World War Italy, Me, You is the story of shy 16-year-old Marco who falls in love with 20-year-old Caia while on holiday with his father. When she reveals her painful childhood caused by the SS during the war, Marco decides to avenge her pain on a group of rude German tourists. Among the cast of the Italian-French co-production are Brian Cox and Tim Roth.

Danish filmmaker August won the Palme d’Or twice for 1989’s Pelle The Conqueror – which also won an Oscar – and for 1992’s The Best Intentions.

Castagnetti’s The Phantom Of The Opera is a French-language reimagining of Gaston Leroux’s novel and stars Deva Cassel, Julien De Saint-Jean and Romain Duris alongside acclaimed ballet stars Guillaume Diop and Dorothée Gilbert.

Rome’s Progressive Cinema international competition comprises 18 titles, including UK director Clio Bernard’s I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning and US filmmaker Tim Blake Nelson’s The Life And Deaths Of Wilson Shedd.

Scroll down for full Progress Cinema lineup

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning won the Directors’ Fortnight audience award this year at Cannes, while The Life And Deaths Of Wilson Shedd recently world premiered at Toronto.

Elsewhere, there are world premieres for Swedish filmmaker Lisa Forslund’s debut Clementine Orange in the Freestyle Film section, and series two of Hulu’s Ryan Murphy legal drama All’s Fair, whose cast includes Kim Kardashian, Naomi Watts and Glenn Close.

High-profile international films also launching into Italy in the festival’s non-competitive sections include Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut, Diego Luna’s Ashes, Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beloved, French epic De Gaulle, Simon Stone’s Elsinore, Peter Farrelly’s I Play Rocky, Taika Waititi’s Klara And The Sun, Fatih Akin’s Ghost Song, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s La Bola Negra, and Pawel Pawlikowski’s Fatherland.

As previously announced, the world premiere of Paolo Genovese’s Il Rumore Delle Cose Nuove will open the festival.

Javier Bardem and UK producer Tessa Ross will both receive lifetime achievement awards in Rome.

Alongside its non-competitive sections, Rome presents a best first feature award, selected from films across the programme, as well as a best documentary prize, a music award and an audience award.

Paola Malanga is the festival’s artistic director, supported by a selection committee comprising Giovanna Fulvi, Alberto Libera, Enrico Magrelli, Emanuela Martini and Alberto Pezzotta.