International stars of the cartoon cinema world are heading to this town near Rome for the 11th edition of its highly respected animated film festival.
The event, entitled Castelli Animati, kicks off Wednesday and runs until Sunday.
Guests of honour include Britain's Ian Whitlock and Loyd Price, part of the Academy Award-winning Aardman Animations team that created loveable dog-and-master duo Wallace and Gromit.
Whitlock and Price are presenting Shaun the Sheep, the spin-off children's TV series devoted to the woolly star of the Wallace and Gromit short A Close Shave.
The animators will also uncover a documentary on the making of Aardman's latest feature film, Flushed Away, the story of an uptown rat that gets flushed from his penthouse apartment toilet to London's sewers.
Another big name making the trip is American animator Bill Plympton.
Plympton will give cartoon workshops and talks on the films being screened in a retrospective on his career, including the 1987 Oscar-winning short Your Face.
Hollywood special effects expert Daniel Acon is coming to discuss how he used animation in films like Gangs of New York, Hannibal and Mission Impossible III.
The competition section features a number of hard-hitting works that prove animated films are not just kids' stuff.
Infinite Justice by Germany's Karl Tebbe reconstructs, frame-by-frame, disturbing TV war reports from Iraq with American action-toy figures.
French director Arnaud Demuynck's A l'Ombre du Voile focuses on the feelings and contradictions of a Muslim mother and daughter who go to a demonstration against the ban on wearing veils in schools.
God On Our Side by Michal Pfeffer and Uri Kranot examines the themes of fear and revenge in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Castelli Animati competition enjoys a good reputation within the industry. Three of the films presented in 2005 went on to win nominations at the Cartoon D'Or awards, considered Europe's animation Oscars, including the eventual winner.
The festival programme also features screenings of animated TV shows, commercials and video clips as well as a variety of exhibitions, debates and workshops. All events are open to the public and free.
Genzano di Roma is a medieval town some 30 Km south of Rome situated in the Castelli Romani hills.
The festival website, www.castellianimati.it, has an English-language section.
