The Montreal WorldFilm Festival has unveiled its 2004 competition line-up, including the worldpremieres of Paul McGuigan's MGM/Lakeshore Entertainment-backed Wicker Park and new films from Chile'sRaoul Ruiz, Greece's Nikos Panayotopoulos and Australia's Craig Monahan.

The 28thMWFF, which runs August 26 to September 6, also features several worldpremieres out of competition such as the Chile-Mexico-Spain co-production The Last Moon. As well, the festivalannounced its Panorama Canada selection of local films, and retrospectives ofGreek auteur Theo Angelopoulos and Serbian filmmaker Krsto Papic.

Wicker Park, parts of which were shot in Montreal, features Josh Hartnett as a mancaught in an obsessive search for a woman he fell deeply in love with, but whothen vanished without trace. The film, which also stars Rose Byrne, MatthewLillard and Jessica Pare, is a remake of 1996 French hit L'Appartement, itself an homage to Hitchcock classic Vertigo. Wicker Park opens in North America on September 3.

Ruiz's Dias De Campo, a Chile-Franceco-production, explores the nature of memory as two old-timers reminisce aboutlife and love, while Panayotopoulos' Delivery,visits the underbelly of contemporary Athens in a story about a drifter whobecomes entangled between lowlife and the law. Monahan's Peaches is set in two time frames and focuses on three verydifferent but intertwined love stories.

In all, 19 films willcompete for affections of the eight-member international jury, chaired thisyear by French filmmaker Claude Zidi.

Panorama Canada, anoverview of contemporary Canadian filmmaking, includes the world premieres ofGary Yates' mobster comedy Seven TimesLucky and Lewin Webb's The Good Shepherd, a story of theimmense emotional and spiritual challenge of a priest who takes over the parishof a murdered colleague.

The tributes toAngelopoulos and Papic join an homage to French star Isabelle Adjani previouslyannounced.

2004 Montreal World Film Festival - World Competition

Around The Bend, dir. Jordan Roberts, US
The Art Of Losing, dir. SergioCabrera, Colombia-Spain
Avellaneda's Moon, dir. Juan JoseCampanella, Argentina-Spain
The Crying Wind (Fuon), dir. YoichiHigashi, Japan
Delivery, dir. Nikos Panayotopoulos,Greece
Dias De Campo, dir. Raoul Ruiz,Chile-France
Edelweiss Pirates, dir. Niko vonGlasow, Germany
The Five Of Us (Elles Etaient Cinq) dir.Ghyslaine Cote, Canada
Genesis, dir. Claude Nuridsany, MariePerennou, France
Hector, dir. Gracia Querejeta, Spain
Human Touch, dir. Paul Cox, Australia
The Parking Attendant In July, dir.An Zhanjun, China
Peaches, dir. Craig Monahan,Australia
The Rider Named Death, dir. KarenShakhnazarov, Russia
The Role Of Her Life, dir. FrancoisFavrat, France
Suburbs, dir. Vinko Moderndorfer,Slovenia
The 7th Day, dir. CarlosSaura, Spain-France
The Syrian Bride, dir. Eran Riklis,Israel-France-Germany
Waiting For The Clouds, dir. YesymUstaoglu, Turkey-France-Germany-Greece
Wicker Park, dir. Paul McGuigan, US