IN COMPETITION

Bamboozled (US)
Dir: Spike Lee
Lee's scathing satire on the portrayal of racial stereotypes on TV stars Damon Wayans, Savion Glover, and Jada Pinkett-Smith.
Int'l sales: New Line International,
(1) 310 967 6700

Beijing Bicycles (Ch)
Dir: Wang Xiao-shuai
The latest film by "sixth generation" Chinese film-maker Wang Xiao-Shuai whose So Close To Paradise was screened in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 1999 and won praise for its gritty, realistic style.
Int'l sales: Flach Pyramide,
(33) 1 42 96 02 20

Betelnut Beauty (Tai-Ch)
Dir: Ling Chin-sen
Betel beauties are girls in Taiwan who sell the addictive betel nuts on the streets. It's a dangerous occupation, but there is money to be made.
Int'l sales: Peggy Chiao,
tfc@transcend.com.tw

La Cienaga (Arg)
Dir: Lurecia Martel
This highly personal and profound vision of two women and their families in the remote and conservative province of Salta won Sundance's best script award in 1999. Martel first captured critics' attention with her short on spousal abuse, Rey Muerto.
Int'l sales: Christa Saredi World Sales,
(49) 30 2535 8323

Chloe (Jap)
Dir: Go Riju
The first feature film in six years by Go Riju, who also made the prize-winning Elephant Song, is a love story starring Masatoshi Nagase and Rei Tomosaka. The film is produced by Takenori Sento.
Int'l sales: Wild Bunch,
(33) 1 44 43 9800

Chocolat (US)
Dir: Lasse Hallstrom
Sweden's Hallstrom has followed up The Cider House Rules with another slightly eccentric literary fairy tale. Juliette Binoche stars in her first English-language role since The English Patient, alongside Johnny Depp.
Int'l sales: Miramax International,
(1) 212 219 4100

The Claim (UK-US-Can)
Dir: Michael Winterbottom
Winterbottom's retelling of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor Of Casterbridge in Gold Rush California is a stark, beautiful picture starring Peter Mullan and Sarah Polley.
Int'l sales: MGM/UA
(1) 310 449 3000

Le Fate Ignoranti (It)
Dir: Ferzan Ozpetek
Turkish-born Ozpetek is expected to top his 1997 success, Il Bagno Turco, with this drama starring two of Italy's most reliable arthouse draws, Margherita Buy and Stefano Accorsi.
Int'l sales: TFI Int'l,
(33) 1 41 41 25 72

Felix Et Lola (Fr)
Dir: Patrice Leconte
A contemporary romantic drama headlining some of France's leading acting talent including Philippe Torreton and Charlotte Gainsburg.
Int'l sales: Pathe Int'l,
(33) 1 40 76 99 69

Finding Forrester (US)
Dir: Gus Van Sant
With a virtuoso performance from Sean Connery as the professor who plays mentor to a black student, Van Sant's latest meditation on urban life has taken over $30m in the US.
Int'l dist: Columbia TriStar,
(1) 212 582 9484

Intimacy (Fr)
Dir: Patrice Chereau
Chereau's sexually-explicit English-language debut screened to acclaim at Sundance, praised for its visual flair and cerebral intensity. Theatre director Chereau, whose film credits include La Reine Margot, proves he is the perfect choice for such an intimate piece.
Int'l sales: StudioCanal,
(33) 1 71 75 99 99

Inugami (Jap)
Dir: Masato Harada
For Inugami, Masato Harada uses a similar Hollywood-influenced style to plunge into his story of strange goings-on in the remote mountains of Shikoku island, where local folks still cling to the old taboos. The latest entry in a highly-successful series of horror films financed and produced by the Kadokawa Shoten publishing company.
Int'l sales: Asmik Ace,
(81) 3 3817 6711

Italian For Beginners (Den)
Dir: Lone Scherfig
Italian For Beginners is the first of a new string of films made according to the Dogme 95 rules. It could be called a romantic comedy if it didn't have the melancholic and tragic elements. It has proved the most popular Dogme film at the box office and was selected for Berlin at an early stage. A repeat of the sales furore surrounding last year's Mifune is expected.
Int'l sales: Trust Film Sales,
(45) 36 868 788

Joint Security Area (South Korea)
(South Korea)
Dir: Park Chan-Wook
Like Shiri, the film that broke local box office records in 1999, Chan-wook's Joint Security Area (JSA) is a similarly fast-paced, topically-pitched thriller focusing on North-South relations. A female Korean-Swiss intelligence officer tries to puzzle out a mysterious incident that leaves a North Korea soldier dead and his South Korean counterpart wounded.
Int'l sales: CJ Entertainment,
(82) 2 726 8564

Little Senegal (Alg-Senegal)
Dir: Rachid Bouchareb
An Algerian begins a search for his ancestors in New York and offers an outsider's point of view on the difficult relationship between the African and African-American communities in the US.
Int'l sales: TF1 Int'l,
(33) 1 41 41 25 72

A Ma Souer/Fat Girl (Fr)
Dir: Catherine Breillat
After the controversial Romance, Breillat explores the loss of virginity through the story of two teenage sisters, the ugly Anais and the beautiful Elena.
Int'l sales: Flach Pyramide International,
(33) 1 42 96 02 20

Malena (It)
Dir: Giuseppe Tornatore
Miramax's first Italian-language production about a young boy growing up in World War II Sicily and his obsession with the local beauty has garnered mixed reviews and a cautious audience reception on release in Italy and the US - where it has had nine minutes cut.
Int'l sales: Miramax International,
(1) 212 219 4100

My Sweet Home (Gr-Ger)
Dir: Filippos Tsitos
The Berlin-set comedy, directed by Filippos Tsitos and starring Nadja Uhl and Harvey Friedmann, centres on a series of tragicomic stories around the stag and hen nights of a young American boy and a German girl.
Int'l sales: Arri Media World Sales,
(49) 89 3809 1288

The Tailor Of Panama (US-Ire)
Dir: John Boorman
Columbia Pictures has chosen Berlin to world premiere its adaptation of John Le Carre's novel starring Pierce Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush. The film was originally scheduled to open in time for awards consideration last year, but was put back to a March 30 domestic release date.
Int'l dist: Columbia TriStar,
(1) 212 582 9484

Thirteen Days (US)
Dir: Roger Donaldson
Kevin Costner stars in this intelligent, well-crafted thriller about the two weeks that the US and Cuba shivered on the edge of a nuclear war. It has taken over $20m in the US.
Int'l sales: New Line International,
(1) 310 967 6700

Traffic (US)
Dir: Steven Soderbergh
Soderbergh's episodic, award-laden take on the US drugs war is underpinned by masterful performances from a cast that includes Benicio Del Toro, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It has taken over $50m in the US to date.
Int'l sales: Initial Entertainment Group,
(1) 310 315 1722

Wit (UK)
Dir: Mike Nichols
This made-for-HBO TV movie is an upscale affair based on a Margaret Edson play about a professor (Emma Thompson) who must re-evaluate her life when diagnosed with cancer.
Int'l sales: HBO Enterprises,
(1) 212 572 1000

You're The One (Sp)
Dir: Jose Luis Garci
A period tale