The third ReykjavikInternational Film Festival, which opened last night (Sept 28) with a totalblack-out in the Icelandic capital, is mainly devoted to audiences, but it isgradually extending its industry side.

"The festival is still verynew, so for a start we have organised a seminar for producers and filmmakers,in collaboration with the European Documentary Network, as well as a NordicTalent Campus," explained festival founder and director Hronn Marinosdottir. "Next year we hope to further involve the business."

For the opening Marinosdottirand the Reykjavik City Council staged a Lights Out event, turning off all citylights for half an hour.

The festival will show atotal of 77 films and has selected there 14 international contenders for theDiscovery of the Year award in the festival's New Visions series, including aNordic entry, Swedish director Jesper Ganslandt's Falkenberg Farewell (Farval Falkenberg), selected both for Veniceand Toronto and a candidate for an Oscar nomination.

Russian director AleksandrSokurov will be honoured with the festival's Lifetime Achievement Award and aretrospective of his work, including a rough cut of his latest film, Elegy And Life.Last year Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami was the celebrated guest. Thisyear's attendees will also include Canadian director Atom Egoyan and Yoko Ono.

Serbian director GoranPaskaljevic will present an anthology programme of his films, while thefestival will screen Douglas Gordon-Philippe Parreno's Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (Zidane, unportrait du 21e siècle), without the French soccer legend's presence.

Two Icelandic films will beworld-premiered in the festival: Olaf de Fleur Johannesson's Act Normal, a documentary about anEnglish Buddhist monk who decides to disrobe and get married, shot between1995-2005, and Jon Gustafsson's Wrath Of Gods, about the making of Sturla Gunnarsson's Beowulf And Grendel.