Swedish Oscar submission opens 9th edition of Bergen festival with 14 films in competition and 130 films screened over seven days.

The 9th Bergen International Film Festival opens today (October 15) with Swedish director Jan Troell's Everlasting Moments (Maria Larssons Eviga Ögonblick).

The festival is Norway's largest showcase and runs till October 22. Troell, his lead Maria Heiskanen, actress Callin Öhrvall Delmar, Danish producer Thomas Stenderup (Final Cut Productions) and Norwegian co-producer Sigve Endresen (Motlys) will attend the screening.

Everlasting Moments has been submitted by Sweden as its nomination for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. It was launched at the Toronto Film Festival, where it was sold to IFC Films for US distribution.

'Many of the films this year deal with photographers shooting historical or everlasting moments,' explained festival director Tor Fosse, citing Terence Davies' Of Time And The City and US director James Marsh's Man On Wire.

14 features have been selected for competition, including entries from the UK Italy, USA, Mexico, France, Macedonia, Hungary, Bulgaria, China as well as the first production from Jordan, Amin Matalga's Captain Abu Raed.

Late additions to the programme of 130 titles include US director Oliver Stone's W and, Uli Edel's The Baader Meinhof Complex.