Medusa, Silvio Berlusconi's Rome distribution powerhouse, has unveiled a bumper slate of new releases including James Foley's crime drama Confidence and Lars Von Trier's widely anticipated Dogville.

Medusa is also set to release several of the year's most eagerly awaited pictures, ranging from Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio, to comic blockbuster trio Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo's upcoming Christmas movie as well as the next Lord Of The Rings instalment and Gabriele Muccino's Remember Me, which will be released next Valentine's Day.

Meanwhile, other distributors who unveiled their forthcoming distribution slates at Italy's bi-annual Screenings in Ostia, included indie Lucky Red, which picked up rights to Bend It Like Beckham, Mike Leigh's All Or Nothing, Mon-Rak Transistor and Mimmo Calopresti's Luc Besson-produced La Felicita' Non Costa Niente.

New pick-ups for Valerio de Paolis's Bim Distribuzione, which went on a shopping binge at Cannes, include Shane Meadows's Once Upon A Time In The Midlands, Im Kwon-Taek's Chihwaseon, joint winner of the best director's prize at Cannes, and Patricia Cardoso's Sundance Hit Real Women Have Curves.

Bim also picked up Italian rights to 11'09''01, a collection of eleven films lasting 11 minutes and 9 seconds which is set to be released wordwide on September 11th 2002 to commemorate last year's tragic events. The film is directed by eleven filmmakers: Youssef Chahine, Amos Gitai, Shoehei Imamura, Alejandro Inarritu, Claude Lelouch, Ken Loach, Samira Makhmalbaf, Mira Nair, Idrissa Ouedraogo, Sean Penn and Danis Tanovic.

State distributor Istituto Luce picked up rights to Nick Hurran's Plots With A View, and Andrea De Liberato's start-up Sharada will release Catherine Breillat's Sex Is Comedy as well as Amos Kollek's Bridget.

Fulvio Lucisano's newly-reinvigorated outfit, Italian Independent Film, will release Luke Greenfield's Animal, James Wong's The One and Nordic hit Elling.

Stefano and Cio Dammicco's Eagle Pictures has added to its slate Ben Aflleck and Matt Damon-starrer, Dogma, as well as Secretary with James Spader and Paco Plaza's thriller Second Name.

01 Distribuzione, Studio Canal and Rai Cinema's new distribution company, will release French comedies Jet Lag and Patrick Alessandrin's 15 Aout, as well as UK action comedy Riders with Stephen Dorff.