David Carradine, Ben Kingsley, Ken Loach and actress MariaGrazia Cucinotta are among the guests who will attend the 34th edition of theGiffoni Film Festival (July 17-24), one of the leading festivals in the worlddedicated to youth-themed films.

The festival's competition line-up includes Maria Full ofGrace, Les Choristes, The Wooden Camera, Chilean film Machuca byAndres Wood, the Frazzi brothers' Karlovy Vary winner A Children's Story(Certi Bambini) and German animation feature Back to Gaya.

Thefestival's jury will be composed of 1300 children and teenagers from around theworld between the ages of 6 to 19, who will be able to interact with thefestival's guests, who will also include Italilan actors-directors MichelePlacido and Christian De Sica.

The festival, founded and directed by Claudio Gubitosi, willfocus on the theme of 'desire' and will have four competitions: Kidzis targeted at children between the ages of 6-9, First Screens will be judgedby children aged 9-12, Free to Fly by children aged 12-14 and Y Gen byteenagers between

15 and 19.

Giffoni, a small town near Naples and the Amalfi coast, willalso host the Italian premieres of Garfield: The Movie, Home On The Range,Superbabies - Baby Geniuses 2 and Ella Enchanted.

Fandango producer Domenico Procacci will receive a specialprize for his work with young directors.

The festival will also host a forum on Italian support forAlbanian film production, distribution and exhibition.

The Giffoni Film Festival has spawned a twin event calledTeen LA that will be launched in Los Angeles in January 2005, and also expectsto have a sister festival in Australia next year.