The 54th editionof the Locarno International Film Festival (Aug 2-12) has unveiled a richsidebar on Asians in American Cinema, including films such as Emiko Omori's RabbitIn The Moon, StevenOkazaki's Days Of Waiting, Wayne Wang's Life Is Cheap But Toilet Paper Is Expensive and Frank Sinatra's soledirectorial effort, None But The Brave, a WW2 war film from 1965 that featured Japanese soldiersspeaking in their native tongue.

Dubbed "Out of the Shadows: Asians in AmericanCinema," the Locarno retrospective will also highlight the career ofSessue Hayakawa - the first Asian actor to make it big in Hollywood in filmssuch as Cecil B. DeMille's The Cheat(1915).

Also selected byLocarno's new chief Irene Bignardi and expert Roger Garcia are NancyKwan's The World Of Suzie Wong and Japan-set gangster movies such as Samuel Fuller's House OfBamboo, Wayne Wang's1981 film Chan Is Missing and Arthur Dong's Forbidden City.

Meanwhile, thefestival also announced that it will pay a special tribute to Belgian cinema tocelebrate 10th anniversary of its Pardi Di Domani sidebar (Leopards ofTomorrow) - a competition for short and medium-length films. Among the 50Belgian titles set to be screened in the sidebar are films by the Dardennebrothers, Benoit Mariage and Chantal Akerman, as well as documentaries by HenriStorck and Charles Dekeukeleire.

The festivalwill award several honorary prizes: A Special Leopard of Honour will be givento the Cahiers du Cinema, the influential French cinema magazine which celebrates its 50thanniversary, and 20-year-old Sundance Institute, with Sundance directorGeoffrey Gilmore on hand to pick up the award. A Leopard of Honour will also bepresented to Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige.

The event's fullline-up will be announced around July 20th.

In addition, thefestival will present a video section, one of whose jury members will beBiennale director Massimo Fuksas, and will host a concert by Life IsBeautiful soundtrackcomposer Nicola Piovani.

COMPLETE OUTOF THE SHADOWSLINE-UP:

THE CHEAT, Cecil B.DeMille
FORFAITURE, MarcelL'Herbier
THE GOOD EARTH,Sidney A. Franklin
CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER, Albert Zugsmith
BACK TO BATAAN,Edward Dmytryk
SHANGHAI EXPRESS,Josef von Sternberg
TOLL OF THE SEA,Chester M. Franklin
DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI,Robert Florey
THE MASK OF FU MANCHU,Charles Brabin
THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN, Frank Capra
THE WORLD OF SUZIE WONG,Nancy Kwan
HOUSE OF BAMBOO,Samuel Fuller
NONE BUT THE BRAVE,Frank Sinatra
MY GEISHA, JackCardiff
JAPANESE WAR BRIDE,King Vidor
GO FOR BROKE, RobertPirosh
THE FLOWER DRUM SONG,Rodgers and Hammerstein
CRIMSON KIMONO,Samuel Fuller
BRIDGE TO THE SUN,Etienne Perrier
CHAN IS MISSING,Wayne Wang
RABBIT IN THE MOON,Emiko Omori
DAYS OF WAITING,Steven Okazaki
FORBIDDEN CITY,Arthur Dong
LIFE IS CHEAP BUT TOILET PAPER IS EXPENSIVE, Wayne Wang
THE JOY LUCK CLUB,Wayne Wang
SEX LOVE AND KUNG FU,Kip Fulbeck
BEYOND ASIAPHILIA,Valerie Soe
THE DOOMGENERATION, Gregg Araki