The 17th youth-oriented Cinema Jove International Film Festival of Valencia, Spain (June 15-22) opened on Saturday night with retrospectives of recently deceased American director and producer George Sidney and popular Spanish filmmaker Alex de la Iglesia.

De la Iglesia launched the festival on a joking note, comparing his relatively small body of work - which nevertheless includes some of Spain's biggest box office hits such as Dying Of Laughter and Commonwealth - to that of Sidney's. "After seeing what American cinema has done, as reflected in George Sidney's work, all I can say is that what we're really trying to do in Spain is just not embarrass ourselves," he said.

Jove's official competition line-up features films made by directors under 35 years of age. A three-day short film market (June 19-22) and a short film competition featuring 70 films from 27 countries also feature.