Prizes awarded amid increased ticket sales and renewed political support

A successful eighth edition of the International Rome Film Festival came to a close on 17 November, with the award ceremony taking place the day before.

The golden Marco Aurelio award for best film went to Tir – Alberto Fasulo's documentary about a Bosnian truck driver – which became the first Italian film to win the festival's top prize.

The best actor award went to American Matthew McConaughey for his role in Jean-Marc Valle's Dallas Buyers Club, while best actress award was scooped by American Scarlett Johansson whose voice featured in Spike Jonze's Her.

Best director went to Japan's Kiyoshi Kurosaw for his thriller Seventh Code, whose technician Koichi Takahashi won the prize for best technical contribution. Best emerging actor or actress was collected by the entire cast of Acrid by Iranian director Kiarash Asadizadeh, while the jury prize was awarded to Quod Erat Demonstrandum by Romania's Andrei Gruzsniczk.

Overall this year's festival was a success, with an estimated 20 per cent increase in ticket sales compared to last year, and a ten per cent increase in participants at the festival's Business Street film market.

This will be welcome news to Marco Müller, now into his second year as artistic director of what he describes as the “festaval”, incoporating the Italian word for “party” into “festival.”

The success of this year's edition was considered crucial for the future of the event which received the approval of the president of the Lazio region Nicola Zingaretti as the curtains drew to a close. Zingaretti said "We must work to give the festival a more solid foundation: it would be very important to involve the culture ministry directly, [this] would strengthen the authority of the Fondazione Cinema per Roma.”

For full details of prizes see the film festival website.