The Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival 2001 will run from September 27 to October 8 as scheduled. It plans to screen more than 400 films and videos from various countries in 30 cinemas around the city of Rio. The festival includes workshops, seminars and various sidebars including a retrospective on films produced by Brazil's, Luiz Carlos Barreto and Troma On Parade, a retrospective of films made by US producer Troma, now celebrating its 25th anniversary.

What is known locally as the Festival do Rio BR was created in 1999 from the merger of two festivals, the Rio Cine and the Mostra Rio. The product of this alliance has evolved into the largest film festival in all of Brazil and Latin America. Last year, Brazilian oil conglomerate, Petrobras, or BR for short, became the official sponsor.

Sidebars include World Panorama, Expectation 2001, Gay World, Midnight Movies, Premiere Latin America, Focus France, Brave Old World and the celebrated Premiere Brazil - a competition determined by audience votes.

Winners of Premiere Brazil are awarded the BR prize - $80,000 for best fiction feature film and $40,000 for best feature documentary - towards the commercial launch of their films.

The fest will include the ever popular Cinema on the Beach, touted as the world's largest outdoor cinema, set up on Rio's famous Copacabana Beach. This will showcase recent Brazilian feature films and shorts.

HIGHLIGHTS:

WORLD PANORAMA

An overview of the latest work by internationally renowned directors, with an emphasis on the international festival circuit award winners. Some of the films to be shown this year are:

La Stanza Del Figlio, by Nanni Moretti (Italy)

Liam, by Stephen Frears (UK)
Official selection, Venice 2001

Monsoon Wedding, by Mira Nair (India)
Winner at Venice 2001. Oscar nominee for best director. Previous work: Salam Bombay and Kama Sutra.

Audition, by Miike Takashi (Japan)
One of Japan's most renowned avant-garde filmmakers;

Millenium Mambo, by Hou Hsiao-Hsien (Japan)
Official competition, Cannes 2001. Acclaimed director of Flowers Of Shanghai, a major hit at Rio de Janeiro 1999

Divided We Fall, by Jan Hrebejk (Czech Republic)
Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Film

EXPECTATIONS 2001
A showcase for new talent: the work of promising filmmakers from all over the world. Titles include:

Atanarjuat, by Zacharias Kunuk (Canada)
Golden Camera, Cannes 2001. First film ever made by Eskimos.

Italian For Beginners, by Lone Schertij (Denmark)
Silver Bear, Berlin 2001. Film follows Dogma 95 principles.

Disco Pigs, by Kirsten Sheridan (UK)
First film by new English director.

Jump Tomorrow, by Joel Hopkins (UK)

Memento Mori, by Kim Tae-Yong/ Min Kyu-Dong (South Korea)
Official selection, Rotterdam 2001

MIDNIGHT MOVIES
A traditional showcase for bizarre, outrageous or banned films. These are screened around midnight. Some of this year's features:

Hedwig And The Angry Inch, by John Cameron Mitchell (USA)
A huge hit at Sundance 2001

R-Xmas, by Abel Ferrara (USA)

No Such Thing, by Hal Hartley (USA)

Scarlet Diva, by Asia Argento (Italy)

Animalada, by Sergio Bizzio (Argentina)
A middle-aged man will do anything for a sheep...

GAY WORLD
A selection of alternative films:

Trembling Before God, by Sandi Dubowski (USA)
Documentary about the lives of gay orthodox Jews.

Le Fate Ignoranti, by Ferzan Ozpetek (France/Italy)
Another Berlin 2001 hit from the same director of Haman - The Turkish Bath.

Hush!, by Hashiguchi Ryosuke (Japan)
Highlight at the Director's Fortnight, Cannes 2001.

PREMIERE LATIN AMERICA
The best in recent Latin American filmmaking including:

25 Watts, by Pablo Stoll/Juan Pablo P. (Uruguay)
Best film, Rotterdam 2001. Only film produced in Uruguay this year.

Y Tu Mama Tambien, by Alfonso and Carlos Cuaron (Mexico)
Best Screenplay, Venice 2001. Actors Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna were also awarded in Venice. A blockbuster in Mexico.

Tinta Roja, by Francisco Lombardi (Peru)
From the same director of Captain Pantoja And The Special Services, winner at Gramado 2000 and Under the Skin (Best Screenplay, Havana 1996)

La Fuga, by Eduardo Mignogna (Argentina)
A box office hit in Argentina this year.

FOCUS FRANCE
A special selection of French films dedicated to the latest productions of both new and established filmmakers. This will include:

Eloge De L'amour, by Jean Luc Godard
Histoire De Betty Fischer, by Claude Miller
Apres la Reconciliation, by Anne-Marie Mielville
L'anglaise Et Le Duc , by Eric Rohmer
Loin, by Andre Techine
Sous Le Sable, by François Ozon

FUTURE GENERATION
A showcase that will appeal to both parents and children:

No Holidays For The Kids, by Stephanie Grau (Germany)
Fed up with her parents' aloofness, a girl organises her own kidnapping.

Ikingut, by Gisli Snaer Erligsson (Iceland)
A child is saved from an avalanche by "a creature from another world" that turns out to be an Eskimo.

Shangoul & Mangoul, by Farkhondeh Torabi Morteza Ahadi (Iran)

BRAVE OLD WORLD
This special 2001 program will showcase eight films from different parts of the world dealing with global human issues:

Promises, by B.Z. Goldberg/J. Shapiro (USA)
Best Documentary, San Francisco 2001; Rotterdam 2001. An encounter between seven children from Israel and Palestine.

Sandstorm, by Jagmohan Mundhra (India)
Based on a true story. An Indian woman is raped by a group of men from a higher caste and decides not to keep it to herself.

El Caso Pinochet, Patricio Guzman (Chile)
Screened during Critics' Week, Cannes 2001. Documentary about the facts surrounding the arrest of General Augusto Pinochet.