Omar Sharif will be honouredat the upcoming AFI Festís annual tribute on Nov 11 in Los Angeles.

'A Tribute To Omar'will feature clips, anecdotes, an on-stage discussion and a retrospective ofhis films including J Lee Thompson's Mackenna's Gold (1969), William Wyler's Funny Girl (1968), Youssef Chahine's The Blazing Sun (1954) and Hani Lachine's Puppeteer (1969).

The tribute will also tie into the US premiere of Francois Dupeyron's drama Monsieur Ibrahim, which stars Sharif as a shopkeeper who forms apivotal friendship with a young boy and earned him the audience award for bestactor at Venice this year.

Sharif next stars alongsideViggo Mortensen in Hidalgo, JoeJohnston's endurance horse riding action-adventure that is expected toopen through Buena Vista in spring 2004.

In other developments,festival organisers have arranged a panel discussion on collaborative film-makingfeaturing Anthony Minghella, accompanied by 20 minutes of unseen footage fromthe director's upcoming drama Cold Mountain.

AFI Fest 2003 opens on Nov 6with the North American premiere of Nigel Cole's comedy Calendar Girls and closes on Nov 16 with the world premiere ofPatty Jenkins' serial killer drama Monster.