Today saw the beginning of the second annual Rome Film Festival competition forerunner Alain Corneau’s Le Deuxième Souffle, and will kick-off publicly tomorrow with a concert devoted entirely to cinema-related music featuring Andrea Botticelli. After last year’s success, which involved over half a million participants and which organizers estimate increased tourism in the city by over 17%, this year’s event promises to be bigger, better, and more star-studded than ever with a budget topping over 15 million euros.

Although there has undoubtedly been some regional squabbling over the timing of the festival, which takes place only a month after its big brother, the Venice Film Festival, Rome now seems to be coming into its own. Despite remarks from the Venetian politician Giancarlo Galan in July, in which he struck out at the Roman festival organizers, calling them a “bunch of sub-provincial idiots” who have tried to position the festival as “an alternative to Venice,”

Venice’s artistic director, Marco Mueller, seemed unfazed, remarking “I am really happy that a situation has been created in which there are some major films which will bow in Toronto and can then go to Rome.” What rivalry does exist can only be seen as healthy and has prompted the first steps towards the development of a government-funded cinema complex on Venice’s Lido.

In contrast to Venice, Rome is consciously positioning itself as the “public’s fest,” with a panel of 50 judges consisting mainly of “ordinary” filmgoers, of which 30 will be Italian and 20 representing other 11 European countries. Divided into four main sections, Premiers, Cinema 2007, Extras, and Alice in the City, the festival will feature more than 140 films and 11 international premiers. Among those treading the red carpet in the festival’s main complex, the Auditorium Parco della Musica, will be nine Oscar-winners, including Reese Witherspoon, Sean Penn, Gavin Hood, Halle Berry, and Tim Robbins.

Opening the Premiers section tomorrow will be Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth: The Golden Age, featuring Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, and Clive Owen followed by an interview with Italy’s beloved Sophia Loren.

Highlights of the festival include Across the Universe from Oscar-winner Julie Taymor, Silk from François Girard and Things We Lost in the Fire from Susanne Bier, featuring Halle Berry and Benicio del Toro. Italian premiers include La terza madre, (Mother of Tears) the third installment of the horror trilogy from Dario Argento and Giorni e nuvole (Days and Clouds) from surreal director Silvio Soldini.

Among the most notable features will be Francis Coppola’s first sojourn into the international film arena in ten years. “There was not a festival in the world that didn’t court me,” he commented, “but instead of Berlin, Cannes, or San Sebastian, in the end I chose Rome.” His first film since The Rainmaker, Youth without Youth premiers at the Roman film festival on the 20/10 and will be released under the Italian title L’altra giovinezza, featuring Tim Roth and Alexandra Maria Lara.

As many have noted, this year’s entries also include a selection of more socially-conscious films. Among these is In Prison My Whole Life, the biography of Mumia Abu Jamal, journalist and ex member of the political Black Panthers. The line up also includes several films relating to the War-on-Terror, such as the co-premier of the notorious Lions for Lambs (Robert Redford, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep) and Rendition (Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Alan Arkin).

Less visible, progressive sections of the festival include the Online Shorts competition hosted by MySpace and voted for by the public, and Alice in the City which aims to promote writing and directing for children. In addition, Focus India includes films from some of the country’s up and coming directors such as No Smoking by Anurag Kashyap and The Last Lear by Rituparno Ghosh, accompanied by music and literature events and “En route vers l’Inde,” a series of photographs by Luigi Ontani (17-27/10) at the Auditorium's Archeological Museum.

The festival also includes a section aimed at industry professionals named The Business Street (18-21/10). Featuring 447 professional and 230 companies, the Street aims to provide a forum to promote “a permanent groundwork of culture and ideas, strategies and talent” for the international filmmaking community.

The awards ceremony will take place on the 27th October and will include the AMS Prize for Best Film, Best Actor, and Best Actress, as well as the IMAIE Acting Award, this year presented to Sophia Loren.