Working Title's Captain Corelli's Mandolin is set to open the third Film By The Sea international film festival in The Netherlands.

The World War II romantic drama, set on the island of Cephalonia and starring Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz, has yet to open theatrically in any territories other than France and the UK, where it has grossed a total of $13.1m (£9.1m) after 12 weeks on release.

The festival takes place from 10-16 September in the Dutch town of Vlissingen and the screening will be attended by the film's acclaimed director John Madden, whose previous credits include Mrs Brown and Oscar winning Shakespeare In Love.

This year the official competition will focus on films based on books and will highlight the influence literature has on film. Corelli is of course based on the bestselling novel of the same name by British author Louis De Bernieres and will be part of the competition programme of eight films. The winner receives the 'Silver Mermaid' Award and Euros10,000 for the director.

Film By The Sea was founded three years ago by film industry veterans, Ad Westrate (Chairman of Dutch Cinemas) and festival director Leo Hannewijk and is chaired by former Dutch Minister for Culture Hedy d'Ancona. The festival opens the new Dutch film season and showcases a wide variety of films, from Hollywood blockbusters to small art house movies. Part of the festival's programme is to highlight a European country and focus on movies from that territory, which this year will be Scandinavia.

Leo Hannewijk comments, "We are extremely excited that Film By The Sea is attracting international appeal with top class talent attending. Morgan Freeman, James Ivory and Franco Zeffirelli have previously been to the festival and we are very much looking forward to welcoming John Madden, along with a host of other talent, this year."

Last year's winner of the 'Silver Mermaid' was Fridrik Thor Fridriksson's Angels of the Universe from Iceland. This year the competition jury will be chaired by Fons Rademakers, director of 1987's best foreign language Oscar winner De Aanslag.