The official US debut of Japanese cult genre Battle Royale and the North American premiere of Australian smash Tomorrow When The War Began (pictured) are among entries in ActionFest 2 in North Carolina.

The second festival, whose backers proudly state ActionFest is the only international film festival dedicated to action cinema “and its unsung heroes”, is set to take place from Apr 7-10.

As previously announced the festival will open with the world premiere of Jonathan English’s medieval tale Ironclad and close with Takeshi Miike’s samurai film 13 Assassins.

The feature line-up includes Bail Enforcers starring seven-time WWE Women’s Champion Trish Stratus, mixed martial arts story Never Back Down 2 directed by and starring Michael Jai White and recent SXSW and Sundance entry Bellflower.

Also screening are SXSW mixed martial arts film Fightville, as well as Films Of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Movie, The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch adapted from the French comic book and the mountaineering thriller Lonely Place To Die.

Previously announced films include Jackie Chan’s Little Big Soldier, Hobo With A Shotgun starring Rutger Hauer, James Gunn’s vigilante thriller Super and the surreal fist-and-sword epic Bunraku.

New to the festival is the Action Producer Of The Year Award which in its inaugural year will go to Ong Bak trilogy producers Sahamongkolfilm, founded by Somsak Techaratanaprasert more than three decades ago.

Panels will focus on a discussion on the role of the contemporary fight director and stories from the careers of 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and iconic stuntman Buddy Joe Hooker and representatives of Stunts Unlimited.

For the full roster of events visit the official website.