Rome, July 2006. The selections of the People’s Jury are closed. In one week only, a committee directed by Ettore Scola has personally interviewed 300 candidates for the jury at the RomeFilmFest headquarters. Only 40 made the cut. The media partners of the Festa, the monthly cinema magazine Ciak and the youth culture network Mtv, will choose the other 10, thus completing the 50 members of the Jury. The Mondadori committee has selected 5 members on behalf of Ciak; while Mtv has picked out 20 candidates and left the selection of the final 5 to the RomeFilmFest committee.The candidates were asked to perform a simulation test, which requires them to assign a literary award, relying on some clues given out by the committee. In one hour’s time, the candidates introduce themselves and discuss who should be awarded.

When it comes time to decide, it’s not one’s knowledge of cinema that counts, but the ability to work on a team, to define the awarding criteria clearly, to create a consensus around one’s own opinion while respecting everyone else’s. Without interfering with the discussions, great attention to what’s being said has been paid by the members of the committee: Angela Prudenzi, film critic; Flavio De Bernardinis, professor of cinematography at La Sapienza University – Rome, and Ettore Scola himself.

3000 applications arrived in response to the Cin Cin Cinema campaign, launched by the RomeFilmFest in collaboration with Agis-Anec Lazio. From March 13 through April 30, the card which allowed to take part in the selections was handed out in movie theatres in Rome.

The candidates were requested to have turned 18 years of age before October 12th, 2006; to prove to have gone to the movies at least 8 times between March 13th and April 30th; and to write a brief description (5 lines maximum) of the scene that had struck them the most in at least 3 of the films seen along with a brief profile introducing themselves.