South Korean director Im Kwon-Taek's Chunhyang and Yi Yi directed by Taiwan's Edward Yang are among the first batch of films confirmed for the official competition at the 15th Fribourg International Film Festival in Switzerland (March 11-18).

The competition line-up also includes Chang Wai-hung's Among The Stars (Hong Kong), Vivian Chang's Hidden Whispers (Taiwan) and Argentine director Eliseo Subiela's God's Adventures.

The festival, which is devoted to film-making from Asia, Africa and Latin America, will this year also feature a 30-film retrospective of Latin American cinema from 1929-1980 and a sidebar "Perspectives of the Young African Cinema" including a screening of Francois Woukoache's We Are Not Dead Anymore! (Nous Ne Sommes Plus Morts!).

Among the innovations for 2001 are a new prize donated by the Christian Association Against Torture ACAT in celebration of its 20th anniversary and a collaboration with distributor trigon films to present a selection of the competition titles throughout Switzerland in a "Films of the South" tour after the festival.