The 33rd International Film Festival of India (1-10 October) is to launch an expanded 'Film Bazaar' market section to showcase Indian film and to promote the country as a destination for shooting and post-production facilities.

Film Bazaar will have 17 booths with leading Indian film companies exhibiting including Eros Entertainment, Yashraj Films and Ramoji Rao Film City.

Trade delegations from China, South Africa, Australia and Singapore have been invited to visit the 'Film Bazaar.'. Film Festival director Deepak Sandhu told Screendaily.com "The Film Bazaar will be organised by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and will showcase the Indian entertainment Industry.

A series of seminars on animation, film exports and co-productions are also being organised.

The ten-day festival begins in Delhi on 1 October with the screening of Brazilian film Brainstorm (Bicho de Sete Cabecas) (pictured) directed by Laiz Bodansky.

Singer Lata Mangeshkar will be the chief guest at the inaugural function, with Bollywood actresses Rani Mukherjee and Aishwarya Rai also in attendance.

The festival will feature films and documentaries from 40 countries including South Africa, Germany, Italy, Vietnam, Brazil, France, Netherlands, Japan and Croatia.

One of the highlights of the festival includes a package of seven movies based on the Devdas story - including the first film version in Bengali by PC Barua (1935) and the latest by Sanjay Leela Bansali. The Devdas package also includes Vedantam Raghavaiah's Devdasu (Telugu, 1953), Bimal Roy's 1955 rendition with Dilip Kumar in the lead, another Telugu version, Devdasu by Vijaya Nirmala (1974) and Shakti Samanta's Debdas (Bengali, 2002).

The Indian panorama includes movies such as Revathy's Mitr - My Friend, Mrinal Sen's Aamar Bhuvan, Farhan Akhtar's Dil Chahta Hai, Kannathil Muthamittal from Mani Ratnam, Buddhadeb Dasgupta's Manda Meyer Upakhyan and Jahnu Barua's Konikar Ramdhenu. A special screening of mainstream Indian films will screen blockbusters such as Gadar - Ek Prem Katha, Lagaan, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham and Raaz.

An Asian competition section comprising 15 films including two from India will present the latest cinematic trends in Asia. A five-member jury headed by filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta will award prizes for best film by an Asian director, most promising Asian director and a special jury award.

''We may not have premieres but we have good quality films. Morever, we in India have not seen most of the foreign films,'' Sandhu added.

The government backed festival costs US$ 750,000 and the Italian filmmaker Marcello Mastroianni is likely to be the chief attraction along with 3000 Indian delegates