Woody Allen's MelindaAnd Melinda will open the first Glasgow World Film Festival on February 9.

The event, sponsored byGlasgow City Council and Visit Scotland, will screen seventy films over thefollowing eight days closing with Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic onFebruary 17.

Highlights include recentAmerican box-office success Coach Carter with Samuel L Jackson, TheWoodsman with Kevin Bacon and Michael Winterbottom's Nine Songs.

There will also be freepreview screenings of Spanglish and In Good Company. The event isparticularly strong on European cinema including Germany's Oscar-nominated Downfall,Francois Ozon's 5 x 2, Don't Move with Penelope Cruz, Golden Bearwinner Head On and Jean-Luc Godard's Notre Musique.

The Oscar-nominated MariaFull Of Grace will also screen alongside a programme of audience favouritesand archive screenings that include the silent features The Phantom Of TheOpera(1925) with Lon Chaney and Murnau's Faust (1926).

Running alongside theFestival is a two day conference entitled Finding The Missing Millions which isorganised by RAAM Management and aimed at UK and Irish independent cinemaowners seeking to improve admissions and box-office share.