Juan Jose Campanella's romantic comedy and directorial debut Son Of The Bride (El Hijo De la Novia), which was nominated for the Foreign Language Oscar, will open this year's Filmfest Muenchen in Germany on June 29.

The 20th edition of Munich's audience festival under Eberhard Hauff's direction (June 29 - July 6) will be staged under the motto 'The Magic of Movies' and include an homage to documentarist Donn Alan Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus (who will be awarded the Honorary Award of the Bavarian Documentary Prize at a ceremony on June 28) and tributes to Serbian filmmaker Goran Paskaljevic and Indian actress-director Aparna Sen as well as a showcase of the work of German filmmaker Matthias Mueller in the newly created sidebar VideoArt & Experimental Film.

The Filmfest's main World Cinema programme has already confirmed screenings of Peter Bogdanovich's The Cat's Meow, George Hickenlooper's The Man From Elysian Fiels, John Sayles' Sunshine State and John Gianvito's The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein, while Munich's traditionally strong American Independents sidebar has invited such films as Eric Eason's debut Manito, Jill Sprecher's Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, Gea Kalthegener's documentary The Human River, Stephen Kijak and Angela Christlieb's Cinemania, and Chris Valentien and Till Terror's Santa Smokes.