Steven Shainberg's Fur starring Nicole Kidman as the celebratedphotographer Diane Arbus has been lined up as a world premiere at thisweekend's Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, some six weeks ahead of its officialworld premiere as the opening night the inaugural Rome Film Festival.

The screening of Fur once again raises the issue of Telluride's cloudystatus in the festival calendar. Branding itself as a sneak preview event whichdoesn't announce its programme in advance and doesn't label its films as premieres, Telluride nevertheless will be the platform fromwhich numerous reviews of Furwill appear and spread around the world in advance of Rome. It is also raising its profile in theUS media where news of its lineup spread quickly today.

In addition to Fur, the four-day event has the world-first screeningsof Kevin Macdonald's Idi Amin drama The Last King Of Scotland, Asger Leth's Haiti documentary Ghosts Of CiteSoleil, and Roger Michell's Venus, all of which receive their official worldpremieres at the Toronto International Film Festival next week.

The Telluride lineup alsocontains Douglas McGrath's Truman Capote drama Infamous, which was set to receive its world premiere at theVenice Film Festival last night [Aug 31]; documentary The US Vs John Lennon, which also has a world premiere berth at Venice;Todd Field's dark comedy Little Children, which has its official world premierein the Deauville Festival of American Film running Sept 1-10; and Paolo CherchiUsai's experimental silent film Passio. This last entry explores the impending crisis of visual culture andits reflection in politics and society.

North American premieresinclude Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu's Babel starring Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt and Gael GarciaBernal and set to receive its official North American premiere at Toronto; RayLawrence's Australian thriller Jindabyne starring Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne; Florian Henckel vonDonnersmarck's Stasi drama The Lives Of Others; and Corneliu Poremboiu's 12:08 East Of Bucharest.

Also lined up for NorthAmerican premieres are Julia Loktev's Day Night Day Night; AndreiKravchuk's The Italian; DenisDercourt's The Page Turner;Christopher Smith's Severance;Rachid Bouchareb's Indigenes; JoeLawlor and Christine Molloy's Civic Life; and Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell's Deep Water.

Penelope Cruz, Ten Canoes director Rolf de Heer, and celebrated film editorWalter Murch, who is the subject of the documentary Murch, will each receivespecial tributes. The festival runs from Sept 1-4.