Festa del Cinema di Roma 2027: B2B kits for productions, distributors and international delegations

Merchandising for productions, distributors and talents at the Festa del Cinema

Dates

Mid-October, twelve days of programming, with specific dates published by the Fondazione Cinema per Roma

Venue

Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, cinema screens across the city, red carpet and hospitality spaces

Organiser

Fondazione Cinema per Roma, in collaboration with Roma Capitale, Regione Lazio, the Italian Ministry of Culture and filmmaker partners

The Festa del Cinema di Roma — organised by the Fondazione Cinema per Roma under the artistic direction that rotates between editions, under the supervision of the Foundation’s governing board — is one of the central fixtures of the European film calendar. Every year, in the mid-October window, the Renzo Piano–designed Auditorium Parco della Musica, the screens of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Cinema Admiral, Nuovo Cinema Aquila and other Rome screens host competition screenings, out-of-competition titles, special events, retrospectives, premieres and audience Q&As. The event is attended by Italian and international productions, distributors, sales agents, established and debut directors, actors and actresses, emerging talents, buyers and selectors from partner festivals (Toronto, San Sebastiàn, BFI London, Berlinale, Cannes), accredited press and visiting delegations from foreign festivals and markets.

For productions premiering a film in competition or in a parallel section the merchandising programme splits across several lines: gifts for the cast and crew during the premiere and the red carpet, materials for the press conference of presentation, welcome packs for the international delegations accompanying the film, gadgets destined for the accredited press, and items for the cinema audiences. For Italian and European distributors managing the title’s launch campaign around the premiere, the representation kit has to follow the title’s brand guidelines, integrate with existing press materials and arrive at destination within the premiere week.

Four audience tiers, four distinct kits

The cast and crew accompanying the film’s premiere need a discreet, curated kit: cabin–size trolley branded with the film title, beauty case, bilingual agenda, accreditation pass and a leather folder for press materials. The international delegation following the film as buyers or visiting delegation requires a more structured programme: leather folder with discreet engraving, bilingual agenda, festival catalogue, country-of-origin gadget, multilingual labelling. The accredited press — correspondents of Italian and foreign outlets, critics, freelancers, trade magazine editorial teams — receives materials functional to coverage: document folder, agenda, quality pen, bilingual press sheets, service communicators. The audience attending the screenings and the Q&As expects a coordinated, portable souvenir: cotton tote bag, festival bookmark, coordinated small stationery, keyrings and counter items for the screening evenings.

Production on Italian supply chains

For a merch programme tied to a film in competition at the Festa del Cinema, our operational hub manages the full chain. We receive the production’s master artwork files (AI, EPS, PDF/X-4 with CMYK images at 300 dpi, FOGRA39 colour profile) and adapt them to the different customisation techniques: water-based screen printing on GOTS-certified organic cotton for tote bags and sweatshirts, hot foil stamping on FSC-certified paper for programme booklets and press sheets, laser engraving on Scandicci small leather goods for the cast and crew folders, embossing on paper for catalogue covers, laser marking on Maniago stainless steel for keyrings and accessories. The pre-production physical sample with Pantone colour map and technical sheet travels on Italian supply chains (Scandicci leather, Maniago steel, Fabriano paper, Collodi wood for small items) and the delivery reaches a hotel in the area (Parioli, Prati, historic centre), the production’s press office or a consolidation warehouse in Rome, on slots agreed with the production’s contact.

Why the Rome hub matters

Most productions running a merch programme around the Festa del Cinema coordinate their Italian operations from Rome, Milan, Turin or Cinecittà. The Rome hub — with consolidation warehouses in Prati, Parioli and San Lorenzo — lets us receive graphic files with the production’s team, route the pre-production sample through Italian supply chains and dispatch the batch to a Rome hotel, the Auditorium Parco della Musica or the distributor’s warehouse on a very short window, twenty-four hours from Lazio. For programmes that bring together an Italian production and a European co–production we handle bilingual materials (Italian and English at minimum) and, on request, full multilingual release with translations aligned to ISO 17100. For programmes that pair the Festa del Cinema di Roma with the Torino Film Festival, the Mostra del Cinema di Venezia or the Berlinale we replicate the logistics across the two dates with a single operational contact.

Production, logistics and invoicing towards Rome

Before starting production we close master artwork files, quantities per production and per recipient, packaging and named receiving point. The final delivery address is locked against the production manager’s or the production’s logistics contact’s calendar: the Auditorium Parco della Musica, a Rome hotel (Parioli, Prati, historic centre, EUR), the production’s press office or a consolidation warehouse in Rome. The ZTL access constraints in the historic centre and Rome’s traffic patterns condition the loading slots, which is why most teams opt for early-morning or after-20:00 deliveries, when commercial vehicles are again admitted into the central areas.

For an Italian programme routed through Lazio deliveries are consolidated at the hub and shipped to the Auditorium area or the delegation’s hotel with 24-hour windows via BRT, SDA, GLS or DHL Express Italia, by appointment for venues that require telephone notice. For programmes above 1,000 pieces we offer appointment delivery with telephone notice and, on request, on-site set-up by our staff at the press room or the production’s hospitality area. For materials requiring controlled environmental conditions (FSC-certified paper, catalogues, small leather goods) we coordinate temperature-controlled transport with specialised partners. For kits destined for international delegations we handle multilingual labelling (Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic) and tamper-evident bag packaging with bilingual packing list addressed to the recipient. For clients subject to CSRD reporting (Italian Legislative Decree 125/2024, transposing EU Directive 2022/2464) we attach a per-order sustainability sheet with Scope 3 CO₂e estimate under the GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain for the Lombardy–Lazio route.

All Italian B2B orders are invoiced in EUR at the standard 22% VAT rate (with reduced rates of 4%, 5% and 10% applied when the product category allows it: publishing, art objects, designation-of-origin products) and routed through the Italian Revenue Agency’s Exchange System (SdI) to the recipient code or to the buyer’s certified email (PEC) address. Corp-Merch.IT is an Italian VAT-registered entity, listed in VIES for intra–EU transactions, and handles reverse charge, split payment and self-invoicing for public administration in line with current Italian legislation.

Frequently asked questions