Organizers of Rome's first ever film festival unveiled on Tuesday the 16 movies that will be vying for the event's top award.

 

The line-up highlighted the October fest's international flavor with the inclusion of several Asian features together with pictures from Argentina, Iran, Turkey, Russia, Georgia and Belgium.

 

Three Italian films were selected: Francesca Comencini's money-themed A Casa Nostra (Our Home), Alessandro Angelini's father- son drama L'Aria Salata (Salt Air), and La Strada di Levi (Levi's Journey), a documentary by Davide Ferrario retracing the journey taken by Italian writer Levi after his release from a Nazi death camp.

 

The Asian crop includes Chinese film maker Tian Zhuangzhuang's The Go Master, Hong Kong director Patrick Tam's After This Our Exile, and Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto's Nightmare Detective.

 

The winning film in the October 13-21 festival will be chosen by a jury of 50 ordinary cinema goers who have been picked from hundreds of applicants.

 

The top award will be the Marco Aurelio, a prize designed by Italian jewelers based on Rome's famed equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2006)