WimWenders, Tom Tykwer and Aki Kaurismaki will be among the film-makerscelebrating the 40th anniversary of the Hof Film Days, which opens today with MarcusH. Rosenmueller's comedy Schwere Jungs.

WhileWenders and Tykwer will be coming to Hof for screenings of their films Paris, Texas and Deadly Maria (DieToedliche Maria) as part of this year's retrospective of German films from thelast 40 years, Kaurismaki is attending the festival for the first time for theGerman premiere of his Cannes competition film Lights In The Dusk.

Around aquarter of the festival's 100 titles are world premieres of new Germanproductions such as Rainer Kaufmann's Inger Alfven adaptation Vier Toechter, Erica von Moeller's melodrama/thriller Leben Mit Hannah, Thomas Wendrich's lovestory Maria Am Wasser, and FelicitasKorn's erotic drama Auftauchen.

Inaddition, festival director Heinz Badewitz has selected such international titlesas Mira Nair's The Namesake, VincentWard's River Queen, Ray Lawrence's Jindabyne, Dina Zvi-Riklis' Three Mothers, Rolf de Heer's Ten Canoes, Linas Philips' Walking To Werner and Christoph Schaub's Jeune Homme.