24 world, 11 North Americanand 28 US premieres are among the line-up of 135 features, documentaries andshorts from 42 countries announced for the upcoming AFI FEST presented by Audi,which runs in Los Angeles from Nov 4-14.

International featurecompetition, international documentary competition, Asian New Classics,European Showcase and the Latin Cinema Series are among the programmes onoffer, with pictures from filmmakers Ken Loach, Jean-Luc Godard, GurinderChadha, Andy Lau and Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato among the line-up.

International features incompetition include the world premiere of Hank Williams First Nation, Aaron James Sorensen's Canadian comedy-drama about a Native Americanreservation, the North American premiere of Jaak Kilmi and Rene Reinumagi'sEstonian youth comedy Revolution Of Pigs, and the US premiere of Ramadan Suleman's post-Apartheid drama ZuluLove Letter (South Africa-France).

International documentariesin competition include world premieres for Seoul Train, an account of North Korean escapees by JimButterworth, Lisa Sleeth and Aaron Lubarsky (USA/China/South Korea), GayRepublicans (USA) from director WashWestmoreland and produced by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, and AlbertoVenzago's exploration of West African voodoo in Voodoo, Mounted By The Gods (Benin/Germany/Switzerland).

Gerardo Naranjo's personaldrama Malachance (USA/Mexico) isone of three world premieres in the Latin Cinema Series, along with JorgeRamirez-Suarez' political thriller The Rabbit On The Moon (Mexico/UK) and Jonathan Jakubowicz' Venezuelan kidnappingdrama Secuestro Express.

The Asian New Classicsstrand features Andy Lau's Infernal Affairs trilogy, Gurinder Chadha's Bride And Prejudice:The Bollywood Musical (UK), whilethe European Showcase includes the world premiere of Ivo Trajkov's labour campdrama The Great Water(Macedonia), the US premiere of Ken Loach's interracial drama Ae Fond Kiss (UK/Italy/Germany/Spain), and Jean-Luc Godard'smeditation on the vagaries of the world, Notre Musique (Switzerland/France).

The American Directionsprogramme boasts five world premieres, including Loren Marsh's absurdist comedyInvitation To A Suicide, QuentinLee's psychological thriller Ethan Mao (USA/Canada), and Harvey Kahn's oil trading political thriller TheDeal. In the Made In Germany sectionthere are US premieres for Lars Buechel's road movie Peas At 5:30 and Karola Hattop's children's film Second HandChild.

Special screenings includethe US premiere of Terry George's Hotel Rwanda, Niels Mueller's drama The Assassination OfRichard Nixon, ChristopheBarratier's French foreign language Oscar submission Les Choristes, and Nicole Kassel's paedophile drama TheWoodsman.

As previously reported(Screendaily Sept 24), the festival will open with the US premiere of KevinSpacey's Bobby Darin biopic Beyond The Sea and close with the US premiere of Alejandro Amenabar's euthanasia dramaThe Sea Inside. The centrepiecegala is Michael Radford's The Merchant Of Venice and other galas are Zhang Yimou's House Of FlyingDaggers, the North American premiereof Jean-Pierre Jeunet's wartime romance A Very Long Engagement, and Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education, which will form part of a tribute and retrospectiveto the Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker.

This year festivalorganisers have teamed up the AFM in Santa Monica (Nov 3-10) and have arrangedshuttles for attendees for both events.