Emir Kusturica's LifeIs A Miracle has been selected for the opening night of this year'sJerusalem Film Festival.

The screening will take place on July8, at the open airSultan Pool theatre located in the valley separating the new city from the oldone.

Kusturica himself has been announced for the Thursday nightevent, in for a brief visit before he goes back to Paris for a Saturday nightconcert of his own band.

Life Is A Miracleis distributed locally by Oded Horowitz's Orlando Films, whose second film inthe festival's program is Berlin Golden Bear winner Head On, with director Fatih Akin on hand to introduce his film.

Other guests announced for Jerusalem include Walter Salles,whose Motorcycle Diaries, handled inIsrael by Shapira Films, will premiere for the occasion, and BFI topper AnthonyMinghella.

No less than 14 new Israeli feature films, a record for thefestival, are competing for the Wolgin Prize, one of the most coveted awardsfor the national production sector. Among them, several items familiar tointernational festivals, such as Cannes' Camera d'Or winner Or, the FIPRESCI awarded Atash, as well as two other films fromthe Berlin program, Campfire and Avanim.

The festival also plans a European Film Day in collaboration with the European FilmAcademy, to be represented by General Secretary Marion Doring, referent RenateRoginas as well as producers Nik Powell and Fabrizio Mosca .

Altogether, some 200 films from 46 countries are due tounspool in the course of the festival's nine days, and a new award, added thisyear, will go to the best avant-garde film in the festival.