Four award-winning films from the Cannes Film Festival, a Golden Globe winning film, and a documentary award winner from the Sundance Film Festival, are among 14 films selected to screen in the World Cinema Showcase of the ninth Bermuda International Film Festival from March 17 to 25.

?L?Enfant?, directed by the Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, won the Palme d?Or at Cannes, while ?Shanghai Dreams? ? a tale of first love set against the backdrop of China?s reform and opening ? won the Jury Prize at Cannes.

?Cache? (?Hidden?), by director Michael Haneke, won the European Film of the Year award as well as the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury for Best Director at Cannes.

?The Death of Mr. Lazarescu?, by Romanian director Cristi Puiu and hailed by many critics as one of the top ten films of 2005, won the Prix Un Certain Regard at Cannes.

?In the Pit?, by Mexican director Juan Carlos Rulfo, won the World Cinema Documentary Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

?Paradise Now?, by director Hany Abu-Assad, won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language film earlier this year ? and is one of five films up for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award on Sunday.

The World Cinema section also features the return to BIFF of director Josef Fares, whose comedies ?Jalla!Jalla!? and ?Kops? were favourites of Bermuda audiences at previous festivals, as well as Jonathan Demme?s acclaimed documentary film featuring Neil Young.

Seven narrative feature films and seven documentary features will screen in the section.

?This is our strongest world cinema line-up yet,? says the festival?s deputy director Duncan Hall. ?There is a wonderful mix of films; it?s a great opportunity to see 14 of the most-talked about films on the festival circuit.?THE WORLD CINEMA LINE-UP

Ballet Russes

(d. Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, United States, 118 minutes)

Combining a treasure trove of archival footage with interviews from a reunion of the dancers in New Orleans, the filmmakers have fashioned an entrancing ode to the revolutionary 20th-century dance troupe known as the Ballets Russes. What began as a group of Russian refugees who had never danced in Russia became not one but two rival dance troupes who fought the infamous ?ballet battles? that consumed London society before the Second World War. Infused with juicy anecdotal interviews with many of the company?s glamorous stars, the film treats modern audiences to a glimpse of the dancers, choreographers, designers and composers who transformed the face of ballet for generations to come. Shown with ?Three Extraordinary Weeks?, a documentary film about the Summer Dance Institute staged by the National Dance Foundation of Bermuda and the American Ballet Theatre.

Dispossessed 20-year-old Bruno (J?r?mie Renier) lives with his 18-year-old girlfriend Sonia (D?borah Fran?ois) in Serang, an eastern Belgian steel town. Their lives change forever when Sonia gives birth to their child, Jimmy. After an initial and promising change of heart about becoming a father and changing his ways, Jimmy becomes little more to Bruno than a new source of wealth. Desperate for money and unable to face his parental responsibilities, Bruno sells Jimmy to a black market connection, who promises to find the child an adoptive home. Bruno sets out to try and undo his callous deed, leading him to a powerful personal transformation. Winner of the Palme d?Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

Old, alcoholic Mr. Lazarescu has a headache, but it?s not getting him much sympathy from his neighbours, his sister ? or even the ambulance attendant, all of whom blame it on his drinking. But when he vomits after taking an aspirin, it finally becomes clear that this is more than a hangover. Accompanied by a medic, Mr. Lazarescu embarks on an epic journey across night-time Bucharest, from crowded hospital to crowded hospital, and from overworked doctor to overworked doctor, seeking treatment. This dark comedy is characterised by what the filmmaker refers to as ?typically Romanian slowness?. The lethargy of the characters builds suspense as poor Mr. Lazarescu searches for humanity but is met with indifference. Winner, Prix Un Certain Regard, 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

In February of 2001, the Taliban issued an edict that all non-Islamic statues be destroyed. By March, the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, existent for 1,500 years, lay in pieces. Of the international outrage that ensued, the filmmaker quotes Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf: ?I am now convinced that the Buddhist statues were not demolished. They crumbled to pieces out of shame, because of the West?s ignorance toward Afghanistan.? The filmmaker speaks to witnesses to the destruction, and retraces the steps of Xuanzang, the seventh-century Chinese monk famed for his 16-year spiritual quest along the Silk Road to India, taking us on a journey about terrorism and tolerance, ignorance and identity, fanaticism and faith.

Georges (Daniel Auteuil), a television talk show host, and his wife Anne (Juliette Binoche), are living the perfect life of modern comfort and security. One day, their idyll is disrupted in the form of a mysterious videotape that appears on their doorstep. On it they are being filmed by a hidden camera from across the street with no clue as to who shot the tape, or why. As more tapes arrive containing images that are disturbingly intimate and increasingly personal, Georges launches into an investigation of who is behind this. As he does so, secrets from his past are revealed, and the walls of security he and Anne have built around themselves begin to crumble. Winner, 2005 European Film of the Year.

Mexican legend holds that for every bridge being built, the devil asks for one soul to ensure that the bridge never fails. This film tells the story of the workers who are building the second deck to Mexico City?s 17-kilometre inner Perif?rico freeway. The film is the story of those whose hands and sweat go into the making of his mammoth work of concrete, steel and asphalt. Winner, Grand Jury Prize, World Cinema Documentary, Sundance Film Festival 2006.

Saddam Hussein?s oppressive regime serves as a backdrop for the film, a tragicomic road movie set in Iraqi Kurdistan during the Iraq-Iran War of the 1980s. With strong poetic vision and the sensitivity of his own life experience, writer-director Hiner Saleem depicts the universal wish to escape a war-torn country as reluctant Kurdish soldier Ako is forced to fight in the Iraqi army. Ako is sent to the frontlines of the war, where he experiences not only the reality of war but also abuse due to his Kurdish background. Using his trademark satirical humour, Hineer creates a delicate balance between the dramatic context of the war and the tenderness of his characters. Screened at Cannes 2005.

Director Jonathan Demme displays a masterful touch with this filmed concert given by Neil Young and friends over two days in Nashville in 2005. Starting with brief conversations with members of the band, the concert consists of a real variety of performances ? solos, duets ? from truly talented musicians. The film style lends an intimacy to the picture and allows us to see each of the performers in both mundane and special moments. This is a film for all music fans not just Neil Young fans, and seeing the musicians live and in action is a treat. Neil Young was and is more than just a musician.

On a typical day in the West Bank city of Nablus, where daily life grinds on amidst crushing poverty and the occasional rocket blast, we meet two childhood best friends, Sa?d (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman), who pass time drinking tea, smoking a hookah, and working dead-end menial jobs as auto mechanics. Soon, though, Sa?d and Khaled are informed that they have been chosen to carry out a strike in Tel Aviv. But when they are intercepted at the Israeli border and separated from their handlers, a young woman who discovers their plan causes them to reconsider their actions. Winner, Best European Film, Berlin Film Festival.

Set in the early 1980s against the backdrop of China?s reform and opening, ?Shanghai Dreams? is the story of first love. Qing Hong, 19, comes from a typical emigrant family that was relocated to Guizhou Province from their hometown of Shanghai during the mid 1960s. Nearly 20 years later, Qing Hong?s parents find they are mired in a rural backwater, cut off from the new economic policies that are transforming China?s large cities. They agonise whether to return to Shanghai ? but for Qing Hong, the choice to relocate is complicated by her budding romance with Hong Gen, a young man from a local peasant family. Winner, Jury Prize, 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

?The Sun? is the third chapter of director Alexander Sokurov?s film tetralogy, following his depictions of the hero who suffers a personal tragedy in Moloch (Hitler) and Taurus (Lenin). Japanese Emperor Hirohito is the focus as he brings to an end Japan?s participation in the Second World War. On August 15, 1945 millions of Japanese heard the voice of their Emperor for the first time when he made an appeal to the armed forces and the people to cease military operations. The film portrays the events leading up to that decision, as well as a second crucial decision made by Hirohito ? the renunciation of his divine status as the 124th descendant of the Goddess of Sun Amaterasu. Winner, Grand Prix Award, Yerevan Film Festival.

Confronted by the death of his stepfather, director Thomas Allen Harris embarks on a journey of reconciliation with the man who raised him as a son but whom he could never call ?father?. B. Pule Leinaeng was an African National Congress (ANC) foot soldier who sacrificed his life for the freedom of his country. As part of the first wave of South African exiles, Lee and his 11 comrades left their home in Bloemfontein in 1960 ? just six months after the Sharpeville massacre ? to broadcast to the world the brutality of the apartheid system and to raise support for the ANC and its leaders, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo. Drawing upon the memories of the surviving disciples and their families, young South African actors portray the harrowing events of the exodus and exile and in so doing forge their own reconciliation between the generations. Winner, Best Documentary, Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival.

Every day in Vienna, the amount of unsold bread is enough to supply Austria?s second-largest city, Graz. Around 350,000 hectares of agricultural land, above all in Latin America, are dedicated to the cultivation of soybeans to feed Austria?s livestock while one quarter of the local population starves. Every European eats 10 kilograms (22 pounds) a year of artificially irrigated greenhouse vegetables from southern Spain, with water shortages the result. With its unforgettable images, the film provides insight into the production of our food and answers the question of what world hunger has to do with us.

Director Josef Fares returns to BIFF with a story based on his experiences as a Lebanese youngster trying to fit in after his family moved to Sweden when he was ten years old. Zozo lives in Beirut with his family, who yearn to move to Sweden to live a more peaceful existence. Just before they are due to leave, tragedy strikes. Left orphaned, hungry and adrift by shells and gunfire, Zozo sets off for Sweden, where his paternal grandparents live. Once there, however, he faces new challenges, including senseless aggression from a sadistic schoolyard bully. Crafted with Josef?s trademark sense of humour and visual flare, Zozo is the filmmaker?s most personal film yet.

? Tickets for the festival will go on sale Wednesday March 8, online only, at www.biff.bm. The festival box office will open on Saturday, March 11 at 10 a.m. at the BIFF Front Room festival headquarters at # 6 Passenger Terminal, Front Street, Hamilton.