Paul Smaczny and Maria Stodtmeier's El Sistema will be the opening film at the 2009 Nyon International Film Festival.

El Sistema looks at the work of Venezuelan pianist and activist Jose Antonio Abreu, focusing on the network of children's and youth orchestras and music centres to provide a route out of poverty for young people in Venezuela.

The film is produced by Euro Arts Music Production and Medici Arts International is handling international sales.

This year is the festival's 15th edition in its Visions du Reel incarnation.

An international jury comprising MoMA curator Sally Berger; UK documentary filmmaker Molly Dineen; Swiss director Fernand Melgar and Colombian journalist Hollman Morris will judge 20 films in the festival's International Competition.

The International Competition line-up includes Peter Mettler's Aerial Perspectives On The Alberta Tar Sands; Thomas Heise's Material; Peter Liechti's The Sound Of Insects - Record Of A Mummy; Richard Brouillette's L'Encerclement; Christiane Büchner's Perestroika - ReConstruction Of A Flat; and Peter Kerekes' Cooking History.

Vision du Reel's various sidebars provide a survey of international documentary filmmaking with screenings of films such as Jiska Rickels' Babaj - An Indian Love Story; Wang Hao's Pediatrics Department; Heddy Honigmann's El Olvido; and Kasper Verkaik's Dear Oprah: Non-Voting America's Wildest Dream.

In addition, the festival will provide a snapshot of Swiss documentary production in the Helvetiques section including Frederic Baillif's portrait of single 30somethings in Geneva, La Vie En 2.