The Women in Cinema Award: Celebrating Female Excellence at Festival Cinema Roma

By: Ekaterina Shevliakova| Claudia Conte with Women in Cinema Awardees| Image: WICA

This year the Women in Cinema Award at Rome Film Festival 2023 was dedicated to women who experience traumatic situations including innocent victims of violence and war.

After the success of the award festivities in September at the Venice Film Festival, the Woman in Cinema Award returned to the Rome Film Festival 2023 (Festival Cinema Roma). The event, hosted by Claudia Conte dressed in a dress by Ferragamo, took place October 19th, 2023 in the Sala Scarpa of the MAXXI Museum in Rome.

Among the winners of this eighth edition are the singer-songwriter Nina Zilli, the stylist Vivia Ferragamo, the journalist and documentary maker Francesca Mannocchi, the screenwriter Doriana Leondeff and Daria D'Antonio, director of photography, a job where mostly men work. Additionally, actress Lina Sastri received the Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to the world of cinema. The social award was awarded to Joy Ezekiel, a young Nigerian woman who experienced the horror of trafficking and who found the courage to tell her story in the book "I am Joy, a cry for freedom from the slavery of trafficking”, prefaced by Pope Francis.

Special guest was the Minister for Family, Birth and Equal Opportunities Eugenia Maria Roccella. Minister Roccella was as an extraordinary testimonial indicating that the award is a sign of the great sensitivity on a truly complicated topic.

Festival Cinema Roma Interviews: Cultured Focus Magazine

The minister Roccella underlined in her brief interview for Cultured Focus magazine that she believes in a new form of feminism against oppression that women are facing every day. Famous singer Nina Zilli spoke about her motherhood and said she hopes when her daughter grows up the world will be a better place for women. Vivia Ferragamo spoke to us exclusively about their the projects to help women Africa.

Women in Cinema Award: Rome

Interviews with Vivia Ferragamo and Nina Zilli |Women in Cinema Award 2023

Panel Discussion Sponsored by KPMG The ceremony was preceded by a round table entitled “May no talent go to waste. Business culture and equity" organized by Claudia Conte in collaboration with KPMG to offer a contribution of reflection on the topic of valorisation of female talent, human capital and sustainable and inclusive development in the film and cultural industry. Moderated by the journalist Francesca Cenci, the discussion saw the participation of Svetlana Celli, President of the Capitoline Assembly of Rome; Chiara Sbarigia, President of Cinecittà and APA; Federica Lucisano, CEO of Lucisano Media Group; Lodovico Mazzolin, General Director of the Institute for Sports Credit; Roberto Natale, RAI Director for Sustainability; the lawyer Assumma.

Minister of Equal Opportunities ( Pari Opportunità) Eugenia Roccella [Italian]

The event is made possible thanks to the support of partners such as KPMG, Aliante Partners, Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi. Representatives of public and private institutions and companies were present. Among others, the prefect Laura Lega, Head of the Fire Brigade Department, the president of Unicef ​​Carmela Pace, the prefects of Prato Adriana Cogode and of Pistoia Licia Donatella Messina and the Prefect Stefano Laporta DG ISPRA. Cultured Focus Magazine is a media sponsor for the Women in Cinema Award.