Chinese auteur Chen Kaigeand Russian director Pavel Lounguine have agreed to participate on the jury ofthe 2005 Montreal World Film Festival, the festival announced yesterday.

Kaige's credits include thePalme d'Or-winning Farewell My Concubine, while Lounguine is the director of such films as Taxi Blues and Luna Park.

Both will unite with Chileandirector Silvio Caiozzi and Claudio Gubitosi, the founding director of Italy'sGiffoni Film Festival, as part of a jury already headed by Greek filmmaker TheoAngelopolous.

The participation of threepowerhouse auteurs adds further ammunition to MWFF director Serge Losique'sclaim to being the most internationally oriented of the city's three filmfestivals.

The city's film community iscurrently weathering internecine warfare between the three events, the29-year-old MWFF, the Festival of New Cinema and the recently establishedFestival International de Film de Montreal (FIFM) - that upstart festival stillhas not confirmed its English-language moniker and probably will not until alawsuit filed by the MWFF over trademark infringement is sorted out.