AFI FEST 2005will close in Los Angeles on Nov 13 with the North American premiere of LasseHallstrom's Casanovastarring Heath Ledger as the legendary lothario.

'Casanova is a wild and whimsical cinematic tourde force,' director of programming Nancy Collet said. 'We're solooking forward to welcoming back Lasse Hallstrom, whose The Cider HouseRules made its USpremiere at AFI FEST in 1999.'

Sienna Miller,Lena Olin, Oliver Platt and Jeremy Irons also star in the 18th centuryVenice-set tale of a seasoned lover who eventually succumbs to the only womanever to refuse his advances.

Festival organisers also unveiled 15 US premieres,including the late Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh's The Sixth Of May, Christian Carion's French foreign language Oscarsubmission Merry Christmas, GavinHood's South African foreign language Oscar submission Tsotsi, Jean-Marc Vallee's Canadian foreign language Oscarsubmission C.R.A.Z.Y., and LoreneMachado's US road movie Bam Bam And Celeste.

Two worldpremiere documentary screenings have been added to the line-up, namely DamonBrown's Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock, and Julie Gustafson's Desire.

RyoichiKimizuka's The Suspect,Albertina Carri's Geminis, and Dominique Deruddere's The Wedding Party all receive North American premieres.

Organisers havearranged a special presentation of Elia Kazan's New Deal drama Wild River starring Montgomery Clift and Lee Remickon Nov 11.

AFI FEST 2005 is scheduled to run from Nov 3-13. For moredetails visit the official website at www.AFI.com.