The seventh Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) will kick off on July 18 with a Miramax pick-up, Alejandro Agresti's award-winning Valentin, the tender story of a young boy and his attempts to find surrogate parents.

Competing titles at the festival include Radio Favela by Helvecio Ratton (Brazil), Carlos Sorin's Historias Minimas (Argentina), El Destino No Tiene Favoritos by Alvaro Velarde (Peru), Luis Mendez' Mas De Mil Camaras Velan Por La Seguridad (Spain) , Damián Szifron's El Fondo Del Mar (Argentina), Isidro Ortiz, Alex Olle and Carlos Padrissa's Fausto 5.0 (Spain). Rodrigo Triana's Como El Gato Y El Raton (Colombia), an Arenas Entertainment US acquisition, will also screen.

The official competition jury is led by Mexican director Arturo Ripstein. Official awards will be granted on July 27, along with the screening of Miguel Hermoso's drama End Of A Mystery (La Luz Prodigiosa) which last month won Moscow' s International Film Festival' s grand prize.

The festival, which wraps on August 2, will bestow a lifetime achievement award on Argentinine actor Federico Luppi.