The 12th annual City Of Lights, City Of Angels (COLCOA) French film showcase in Los Angeles will kick off on April 14 with the North American premiere of Dany Boun's comedy Welcome To The Land Of Shtis which is breaking box office records in France at present.

Two films will close the event on April 20 - the world premiere of Christian Faure's Behind The Walls starring Catherine Jacob and Carole Bouquet and the Cesar-winning The Secret Of The Grain directed by Abdellatif Kechiche.

The event will screen 48 films in total - 28 features and 20 shorts. Funded by The Franco American Cultural Fund, COLCOA is a collaboration between the Directors Guild Of America (DGA), the Motion Picture Association (MPA), France's Society Of Authors. Composers and Publishers Of Music (SACEM) and the Writers Guild Of America (WGA) wit the support of l'ARP, the Los Angeles Film And TV Office Of The French Embassy and Unifrance.

'With the expanding globalisation of the film industry, COLCOA becomes more relevant each year, which is reflected in the increasing participation of US distributors,' said festival director and programmer Francois Truffart who added that a series of trailers of upcoming French films in Cannes and beyond will be screened to buyers at the event.

'It is our belief that there isn't one but multiple audiences for foreign films and we are committed to premiere critically acclaimed films and box office successes as well as first-time filmmakers whose work is not yet well known in Hollywood.'

Receiving its world premiere at COLCOA is an English-language classic - the restored version of Fritz Lang's Secret Beyond The Door (1948) which was funded by the Franco American Cultural Fund with The Film Foundation.

COLCOA will also present a focus on director Florent Emilio Siri including screenings of his latest film Intimate Enemies with Benoit Magimel as well as his first film A Minute Of Silence (1998) also starring Magimel.

The programme will also screen Jean-Paul Salome's Female Agents, Cedric Klapisch's Paris, Claude Miller's Un Secret, Claude Lelouch's Roman De Gare, Lea Fazer's What If ' (Notre Univers Impitoyable), Eric Rohmer's The Romance Of Astree And Celadon, Jacques Maillot's Rivals (Les Liens De Sang), Anne Le Ny's Those Who Remain, Emmanuel Mouret's Shall We Kiss', Bruno Dega and Jeanne Le Guilou's Game Of Four (Detrompez-Vous), Eric Guirado's The Grocer's Son and Cedric Anger's The Killer.

A new programme entitled 'After 10' - a late night series with mature themes - features Jan Kounen's 99 Francs and Alfred Lot's Melody's Smile (La Chambre Des Morts).