A festival of international films and documentaries about art, painters, sculptors and architects, centres around Palazzo Venezia until Wed 2 June. 140 contemporary films and documentaries from 19 countries are competing in four categories. The first is dedicated to films and documentaries about art, for example films about exhibitions or restoration projects. Then there are films and documentaries about artists, including biographical works and memoirs. The section dedicated to works about architecture features documentaries of monuments, churches and museums, as well as modern architectural projects and landscape gardening. The fourth section looks at experimental films that are artworks in themselves, drawing heavily on the output of schools and universities. Films that were not selected for the competition but are nonetheless interesting will be shown in a special section entitled Lo spirito del Tempo. These and the competition screenings take place at Palazzo Venezia, Via del Plebiscito 118, daily 15.00-24.00. The prize-giving ceremony will take place on Wed 2 June at Teatro Argentina in Largo di Torre Argentina.

In addition to the competition, which focuses on work produced since the year 2000, there will be three retrospectives, with reels from Italian cinema and television archives. Screenings for Larte del costruire, featuring films on the theme of architecture, take place at the headquarters of the Societ Dante Alighieri, Piazza Firenze 27. Art films and interviews with artists produced by the state broadcaster Rai will be screened for 50 anni darte in TV at the Universit Lumsa, Via di Porta Castello 44. A general retrospective of the best art films and documentaries made world-wide since the 1930s takes place at the Cinema Metropolitan, Via del Corso 7.

For more information, including the full programme of events, see www.docfest.it, tel. 068840341.