Pedro Almodovar,Lars von Trier, Cameroon's Jean-Pierre Bekolo and Mexico's Carlos Reygadas areamong the Global Film Initiative's (GFI) new 15-strong film board of filmmakersand industry personnel.

GFI heads hopeto spread the organisation's message of cross-cultural understanding throughthe appointees, a full list of whom appears below.

"Filmmakers inevery corner of the world bring the rich texture of life into their work," GFIchair Susan Weeks Coulter said. "Our challenge is to introduce Americanaudiences to their remarkable stories, as told in the international medium ofcinema.

"We aredelighted to welcome these leaders of independent filmmaking in support of thisimportant work."

The chartermembers of The Global Film Initiative Film Board are:

Pedro Almodovar,Carlos Reygadas, Lucy Barreto (Brazil), Pierre Rissient (France), Jean-PierreBekolo, Lita Stantic (Argentina), Noah Cowan (Canada), Bela Tarr (Hungary),Sandra den Hamer (The Netherlands), Djamshed Usmonov (Tajikistan), ChristopherDoyle (China), Lars von Trier, Adoor Gopalakrishnan (India), ApichatpongWeerasethakul (Thailand) and Rashid Masharawi (Palestine).