A launch party for the Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF) will be held tonight at the Elbow Beach Hotel.

Fifty-five feature films from 16 countries will be screened over the week of April 12 through 18, in addition to parties and a full-slate of other events for filmmakers and film-lovers at BIFF 2002.

Organisers will be on hand tonight to discuss the festival line-up and BIFF programmes will be distributed at the Happy Hour event running from 5.30 to 7 p.m. All are welcome.

The party is being co-hosted by BIFF, the Elbow Beach Hotel and RG Magazine which prepared the festival brochures.

Meanwhile, organisers announced this week that a hit Indian film and a British comedy have been selected as the closing features for the festival.

The Indian feature 'Monsoon Wedding' is a veteran of the festival circuit and festival director Aideen Ratteray-Pryse said BIFF organisers knew they had to have it when they saw it in Toronto.

"We selected 'Monsoon Wedding' because we think it is one of the finest films we have seen in the last year," Ms Ratteray-Pryse said.

The film, which was directed by Mira Nair, is a depiction of the sexual mores and class structures of modern India.

The exuberant, ensemble comedy features a jittery bride, a father worried about wedding expenses, a perfectionist mother, a loud and meddlesome extended family and a flamboyant, scheming wedding planner with a big heart.

The film - a massive hit on the festival circuit - has added to Ms Nair's previous successes with the films 'Salaam Bombay' and 'Mississippi Masala'.

Monsoon Wedding will be screened at 9.30 p.m. on Thursday, April 18, at the Liberty Theatre.

'Janice Beard: 45 WPM' will also shown at the Liberty Theatre starting at 6.30 p.m. that night.

Bermuda's film fans will be offered a sneak preview of this UK film which is due to be released in North America in May.

"'Janice Beard' is sure to be a hit with our film audience in Bermuda," said Ms Ratteray-Pryse. "It has a wonderfully offbeat sense of humour."

The comedy from director Claire Kelner tells the tale of a woman who has been causing chaos ever since she was born.

According to the BIFF press release on the film: "Her father died in childbirth, turning her mother into an agoraphobic."

The film's centrepiece eventually moves to London to try and earn a living despite her minimal skills.

She lands a job temping at a car manufacturer about to launch a new model.

"Her wacky personality and quirky charm slowly win over her workmates and Sean, the office boy," the statement continues.

"But Sean is a double agent, working for a rival car company. Watch and laugh as Janice comes to grips with reality and truly lets herself be free."

Tickets for individual films and festival passes for six, seven or 14 films will be on sale at City Hall box office from April 1 till 11 between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.