Hollywood icons Meryl Streep and George Clooney will lead a star-studded cast at Rome's fourth annual film festival next month, organisers said Friday.

Streep will receive a career Marcus Aurelius award while starring as American TV chef Julia Child in the acclaimed "Julie & Julia" by Nora Ephron, to be shown out of competition.

"The common thread in this festival will be the central role of women in today's cinema," artistic director Piera Detassis told a news conference unveiling the programme for the October 15-23 event.

"Selected from among 800 candidates, the 14 feature-length films in competition include both art house offerings and new talents, big productions as well as small-budget films," Detassis said.

Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air" starring Clooney will be the only US film in competition -- he won here with "Juno" in 2007.

Out of competition, Joel and Ethan Coen will present "A Serious Man" and Lasse Hallstrom will unveil "Hachiko: A Dog's Story" with Richard Gere and Joan Allen.

The jury led by veteran US director Milos Forman will include French academic Jean-Loup Dabadie, Italian architect Gae Aulenti, Algerian writer Assia Djebar, Austrian actress Senta Berger, Italian director Gabriele Muccino and Russian filmmaker Pavel Lungin.

Source: AFP