FilmFest by the numbers: the figures look up

By Monica Carolan

ROME, Oct. 25 - The official tally won't be in for a few days, but it appears the Rome Cinema Festival this year has outperformed 2006.

Compared to the inaugural 2006 festival, attendance and attention is up. The number of journalists attending the event in 2006 was 2,400; this year, 2,500. It appears ticket sales will be up as well. According to festival organizers, after the first few days of the festival, 42,000 tickets were sold. In 2006,100,000 tickets were sold in the total eight days of the festival.

Online, traffic soars. Up until now there have been more then one million visitors to the festival's website.

As Gofferdo Bettini, President of the Fondazione Cinema per Roma, told reporters last week, the festival has been "a tremendous success with the public which goes beyond every expectation, even the most optimistic. The people flocking to our events, exhibitions, encounters, screenings and book presentations are proof of a great passion and curiosity for culture, conducted in a joyful and orderly atmosphere.  The RomeFilmFest has now established its name as a truly unique popular event, the only one of its kind."

Bettini has received help from Rome itself. The continuing number of tourists that visit Rome were naturally drawn to the festival. This year's success may also be due to the reputation of one of the most recognized actresses in Italian cinema history, Sophia Loren, who was feted earlier in the festival.