Milan's four-year-old short film festival, Cortometraggio, is to be expanded into an international feature film festival from this September.

The MilanoFilmFestival (Sept 11-17) is to run two competitions, one dedicated to full-length films and one to shorts. The event aims to showcase overseas films that have not found distribution in Italy.

The festival will be run by the Cortometraggio organisers Associazione Aprile. Backing comes from sources including local and regional government.

Also planned are workshops with international jury members, meetings with directors, open-air screenings, tributes and special sections.

The move comes after last year's short film event recorded audiences of more than 2,000 in four days. More than 3,000 people attended the workshops, meetings, concerts and parties.

This year's Mifed film fair is scheduled for October 27 to November 3.