Based on a decades-old true story from Japan, the film shown out of competition here tugs at the heartstrings as Hachi insinuates himself into the life of Gere's college professor character Parker.

The bond between Parker and the handsome, intelligent animal (played by at least three actual dogs in different stages of life) underpins what Gere called an "adult fairy tale."

Hachi becomes the embodiment of loyalty, greeting Parker at the train station every evening as he comes home from work, then turning up like clockwork for years after the professor "leaves the story," as Gere put it.

While he thought he was making a movie for his nine-year-old son, it turned out that "we didn't make a children's movie," Gere said of the film directed by Oscar-nominated Swede Lasse Hallstrom ("The Cider House Rules").

"This is a love story in the deepest sense," he said. "It's nothing to do with gender, nothing to do with species."

The longtime Buddhist added: "This is very much about life force... we are that mysterious life force, and what animates us is love."

Gere said of his own dog Billie, named after the jazz singer Billie Holiday: "I have a feeling we've been friends for many, many incarnations."

Also Friday, US director James Ivory unveiled "City of Your Final Destination" starring France's Charlotte Gainsbourg and Welshman Sir Anthony Hopkins.

The complex love triangle based on a novel by Peter Cameron, set in Uruguay but filmed in Argentina, revolves around a set of mainly eccentric characters thrown together on a sprawling hacienda.

The movie by the director of "Room with a View" and "Remains of the Day" is one of 14 vying for the Marc'Aurelio award for best film at Rome's fourth annual film festival, which runs through next Friday.

On Saturday, Hollywood hunk George Clooney stars in "Up in the Air," a comedy about a stressed-out executive by Jason Reitman, and Lebanese Dima El-Horr presents "Chaque Jour Est une Fete" focusing on three women whose partners are in prison.

The jury led by US director Milos Forman ("Amadeus") includes Algerian novelist Assia Djebar, Austrian actress Senta Berger, Italian director Gabriele Muccino and Russian filmmaker Pavel Lounguine.

The audience also gets a vote to decide the feature worthy of the public's award.

The festival was created in 2005 by then Rome mayor Walter Veltroni, aiming to make it a major draw on the international cinema calendar.

But this year -- the second year under Veltroni's right-wing successor Gianni Alemanno -- the event is a day shorter, with 14 films in competition compared with 20 in 2008 and the budget slashed to 12 million euros (17.5 million dollars) compared with 15.5 million last year.