Film festival planned for Rome

ROME, March 15 (UPI) -- Plans are under way in Rome for a major international film festival to rival leading festivals in other European cities, the Hollywood Reporter said Tuesday.

The paper said Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni has met several times with top Italian film industry executives to gauge interest in the idea.

Citing sources close to the planning committee, The Reporter said Veltroni is hoping to appropriate $8 million for the festival -- which would put it on roughly equal budgetary footing with Italy's major film festival, the Venice International Film Festival. However, one source said funding for a Rome festival is still up in the air.

Veltroni is said to be looking at holding the first Rome film festival in October 2006.