“Hey Joe,” a drama in which James Franco plays a U.S. Navy sailor stationed in post-World War II Naples, will world premiere at the Rome Film Festival next month.

The gritty film, directed by Claudio Giovannesi, is produced by Italy’s Palomar in tandem with Rai Cinema and Vision Distribution, which will release the film in Italy. Vision Distribution International is handling international sales.

In “Hey Joe,” Franco plays Dean Barry, an American sailor who in 1944, at age 23, disembarks in war-torn Naples. He falls in love with a young, very poor, local woman named Lucia. A couple of years later, Dean is forced to leave Lucia, alone and pregnant, to go back to New Jersey. He eventually returns to Naples to find the woman and her son, Enzo — but the city has changed a lot and Dean must navigate these challenges leading up to a surprise finale. Franco speaks both...