The third edition of the International Rome Film Festival has announced the line-up for the upcoming edition that runs October 22-31.

The edition is shaping up to be a showcase of European talents and directors.

The official competition has 12 world premiere titles, six of which are Italian.

There are also five world premiere special screenings (of which four are Italian titles) and an additional four world premieres in the youth oriented sidebar Alice in the City (one is Italian).

Rome's red carpet boasts predominately European star power with Colin Firth, Monica Bellucci, Charlotte Rampling, Wim Wenders, Guy Ritchie but also Edward Norton, Ed Harris, and Viggo Mortensen among those confirmed.

The 20-film competition includes films from the Cinema 2008 line up curated by Teresa Cavina and Giorgio Gosetti and the films in the Antiprima (Premiere) section curated by Piera Detassis.

The world premieres are:

The Artist (El Artista) by Argentine duo Gaston Duprat and Mariano Cohn

Iri from South Korean Zhang Lu about the aftermath of a 1977 train station explosion

Opium War from Afghanistan's Siddiq Barmak in which two American pilots are looking for an escape route after their chopper crashes in the Afghan desert.

The Joy Of Singing (Le Plaisir De Chanter) about two intelligence agents in love directed by Ilan Duran Cohen.

Resolution 819, a historical thriller (a French-Polish-Italian production) directed by Giacomo Battiato about a volunteer French police officer who goes to Srebrenica in search of evidence of genocide.

Long Shadows (Shattenwelt) direced by Connie Walter (Germany)

A Warm Heart (Serce na Dloni) by Krzysztof Zanussi.

The Man Who Loves from Maria Sole Tognazzi, starring Monica Bellucci and Pierfrancesco Favino

The Past is a Foreign Land (ll passato e' una terra straniera) from Daniele Vicari.

Galantuomi - Edoardo Winspeare's romance

Parlami Di Me the directorial debut of Brando De Sica (grandson of Vittorio De Sica) which features his father Christian De Sica in a musical and theatrical monologue of De Sica family memories.

A Game for Girls (Gioco da ragazze) - Matteo Rovere's debut.

In competition fresh from Toronto are Francois Dupeyron's With A Little Help from Yourself (Aide toi et le ciel t'aidera), Rithy Panh's The Sea Wall (Un Barrage contre le Pacifique); Good by Vicente Amorim starring Viggo Mortensen, Gavin O'Connor's Pride And Glory, and Baksy (Native Dancer) by Guka Omarova.

The remaining titles - most of them international premiers are:

A French Gigolo (Cliente) by Josiane Balasko, Easy Virtue by Priscilla, Queen of the Desert director Stephan Elliott about a young American divorcee who ties the knot with a British heir in a spur of the minute wedding starring Jessica Biel, Colin Firth and Kristen Scott Thomas.

Out of competition highlights include Missing by Tsui Hark that closes the Cinema 2008 section and the previously announced 8/Huit/Eight by eight directors, the Baader Meinhof Complex by Uli Edel, The Duchess by Saul Dibb.

Rome's special screenings include UK director John Irvin's Garden Of Eden (world premiere) as well as Ed Harris directed Western Appaloosa and Guy Ritchie's noir comedy RocknRolla.

Alice in the City, the youth-oriented sidebar curated by Gianluca Giannelli Savastano includes the world premiere of French title LOL by Lisa Azuelos with Sophie Marceau and Finland's The Home Of The Dark Butterflies by Dome Karukoski. As a special event, the section will screen High School Musical 3 as well as a 20-minute preview to the highly-awaited Twilight from Catherine Hardwicke.

As promised, the Festival has invoked a few alterations in addition to the name change under the new President Gian Luigi Rondi.

Among his efforts to boost Italian cinema (this year there are 21 Italian films across sections) he has organized a focus on great Italian cinema families including the De Sica, Rossellini (Roberto Rossellini's son Gil will bring his latest work), Tognazzi, Manfredi family and Vanzina families, most of which are three generation cinema families and who will attend the festival.

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