The Bangkok International Film Festival (Nov 15 - 26) will open with a double bill of Federico Fellini's classic 8 1/2, followed by Francois Ozon's 8 Femmes - to introduce this year's theme of 'From Masters To Present'.

The 11-day event expects to present 50 international features, including movies from South America and the Middle East. It is the 5th film festival in the Thai capital with screenings taking place at the United Artists cinema at the Emporium and the Grand Entertain Golden Village theatre at the Siam Discovery Centre.

The Closing films will be Takashi Nakamura's A Tree Of Palme and Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding. Local Thai films will also be promoted in a separate section.

Other highlights include a retrospective of the films of Agnes Varda with the French director/writer in attendance and a discussion on the new wave of cinema from Iran.