UK independent distributor Optimum Releasing is teaming with BBC Four to release an annual package of six world cinema titles, designed to increase the number of foreign titles distributed in the UK.

Dubbed Discoveries, the programme will focus on new films from first time directors, as well as more established film-makers who are underexposed in the UK. The films will be released theatrically during the summer period, released on DVD and video and subsequently broadcast on BBC Four, the BBC's cultural channel. Films will be acquired by Optimum Releasing and BBC Acquisitions, with the Edinburgh International Film Festival acting as artistic consultant.

Three titles have so far been picked up for the 2003 slate: Italian feature Angela, directed by Roberta Torre; Minimal Stories (Historias Minimas), an Argentinian film directed by directed by Carlos Sorin; and Norwegian/Swedish co-production Dragonflies (Oyenstikker) directed by Marius Holst.