Pupi Avati will introduce his Italian romance Incantanto (The Heart Is Elsewhere) as the opening film of the upcomingannual EU Showcase festival, which runs in Washington DC from Oct 29-Nov 9.

Organised by the American Film Institute (AFI) and the EuropeanCommission Delegation in Washington, the event features a host of festivalwinners and box office hits from leading European film-makers.

For the first time in 16 years there will be films from three ofthe 10 new EU member states, namely Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

The line-up includes Claude Chabrol's French thriller TheFlower Of Evil, AndersThomas Jensen's Danish black comedy The Green Butchers, Andrzej Jakimowski's absurdist Polishdrama Squint Your Eyes,Gabor Herendi's Hollywood satire A Kind Of America and David Ondricek's comedy One HandCan't Clap.