20/06/2008

Known as an attraction for US stars, Dubrovnik’s 4th Libertas Film Festival (Jun 27-July 2) guest list this years includes Ira Sachs, director of the 2005 Sundance Grand Prix winner Forty Shades of Blue and this year's Married Life; Sundance programme director Trevor Goth; Capote producer Michael Ohoven; and Chris Cooper, Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson.

The festival has three competition sections, of features, shorts and documentaries. The features in competition are: Yossi Cedar's Beaufort (Israel), Dennis Gansel's The Wave [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Germany), Celine Sciamma's Water Lilies [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (France), Nic Balthazar's Ben X [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nic Balthazar
interview: Peter Bouckaert
film profile] (Belgium), Isabel Coixet's Elegy (US), Florent Emilio Siri's Intimate Enemies (France), Fatih Akin's The Edge of Heaven [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fatih Akin
interview: Klaus Maeck
film profile] (Germany/Turkey), Hans Weingartners's Reclaim Your Brain [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Austria/Germany) and Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's Ploy (Thailand).

The documentary competition includes Marina Zenovich's Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (US/UK), Jelena Popovic's The Knights of Orlando (Canada), Dean Puckett's Elephant in the Room (UK) and Invisibles (a US/Spanish co-production) by Mariano Barroso, Isabel Coixet, Javier Corcuera, Fernando Leon de Aranoa and Wim Wenders.

Among the 14 shorts are Edward Feldman's A Day's Work (Czech/US) and Sybil H. Mair's The Chef's Letter (UK), Tatchapon Lertwirojkul's Simulacra (Thailand) and David Preizler's The Dismissal (US).

The winners will be chosen by the jury comprising Gregory Valens, a French journalist, director, member of the Cannes Critics' Week selection committee and vice-president of FIPRESCI; Croatian actress Kristina Krepela; and Steve Rothenberg, president of domestic distribution at Lionsgate Entertainment.