The 11th edition of the Rome Film Festival opening Thursday boasts a star-studded guest list including the likes of Roberto Benigni, Bernardo Bertolucci, David Mamet, Oliver Stone, and Meryl Streep.
The festival's Close Encounters series is to host American novelist Don DeLillo and contemporary art duo Gilbert & George, among others.
This year's edition, the second under artistic director Antonio Monda, runs through October 23 with films from 26 countries. Italy is presenting 11 movies, with four in the official selection: actress Karen Di Porto's directorial debut Mary in Rome, Naples '44 by Francesco Patierno, Seven Minutes by Michele Placido and Sun Heart Love by Daniele Vicari. Di Porto's comedy about a day in the life of a Roman woman may be a breakout hit along the lines of Gabriele Mainetti's Jeeg Robot last year, which went on to win several David di Donatello (Italy's Oscars) awards, Monda suggested.
The fest will have a number of retrospectives.
Among the classics to be screened are Advise and Consent (1962) by Otto Preminger, Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (2012) and Milk by Gus Van Sant (2008).
American actor Tom Hanks will be celebrated with a lifetime achievement award and will meet the public.
The festival will also pay tribute to late American director Michael Cimino, who died in July this year, and Italian filmmaker Luigi Comencini on the centennial of his birth.
An homage to American actor Gregory Peck features a screening of William Wyler's 1953 romantic comedy Roman Holiday, of Academy Award-winner Barbara Kopple's documentary A Conversation with Gregory Peck, and a meeting with the actor's daughter Cecilia and son Anthony.
The festival, which will last an extra day this year, will also screen Ron Howard's Inferno and Moonlight by Barry Jenkins, about an African American in Miami who discovers he is gay.
Also on the schedule are Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea, starring Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams, and Nate Parker's The Birth of a Nation, a period drama film based on the story of Nat Turner, who led an 1831 slave rebellion in the southern United States. This year's festival will last a day longer that last year's, at the same budget of 3.4 million euros.
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