Cannes' Marche du Film has said that it expects arecord number of 8500 participants at this year's event withpre-registration figures already up by ten per cent compared to 2003.

The highest increases are from the UK, the US, Asia, Spain,South Africa and Finland.

The Marche also reports that the number of buyers is alsonoticeably up with 300 more registered at this stage, particularly from the US,the UK, Japan, Italy, South Korea as well as Spain and South Africa.

The Marche will present a programme of 1400screenings - of which more than 50% are world premieres - and 2600 films andprojects.

Films from the UK will also be 30% up on last year.

73 countries will be represented compared to 60 last year.13 new countries will present their films at the Marche, with newparticipants from Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe.