The eighth Bermuda International Film Festival kicks off Friday with 70 films from 20 countries screening in this year?s event.

Films will screen at the Liberty, Little, Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute and Southside cinemas.

This year?s BIFF line-up:

?Hari Om?

(d. Ganapathy Bharatbala, India)

Rickshaw driver Hari Om embarks on a romantic adventure with a French visitor in this beautifully shot road movie filmed against the stunning backdrop of Rajasthan, its cities Jaipur, Bikaner and Jaiselmer, and its people, customs and camels.?Shape of the Moon?

(d. Leonard Retel Helmrich, Netherlands)

Award-winning documentary takes us inside the fourth biggest nation in the world by focusing on the struggles faced by three generations of one family. Grand Jury Prize, Amsterdam Documentary Festival 2004 and World Cinema Documentary Grand Prize, Sundance 2005?3-Iron?

(d. KIM Ki-duk, South Korea)

Elegant images, and powerful silences, populate this drama exploring themes of loneliness by one of the world?s master filmmakers.?Murderball?

(d. Dana Shapiro, Henry Rubin, United States)

Fierce rivalries, stopwatch suspense and dazzling athletic prowess are profiled in this award-winning documentary about quadriplegics who play rugby in armour-plated wheelchairs. American Documentary Audience Award, Sundance 2005?9 Songs?

(d. Michael Winterbottom, United Kingdom)

BIFF?s Filmmaker in Focus presents the most sexually explicit film ever released in UK theatres. ?The Last of the First?

(d. Anja Baron, United States)

Poignant award-winning documentary about the last remaining musicians from jazz?s golden age. Winner, Audience Choice (Documentary) Award, Newport Film Festival.?Head-On?

(d. Fatih Akin, Turkey-Germany)

Winner of 19 international awards. Suicidal Cahit and party girl Sibel get married. When Cahit is sent to jail and Sibel flees to Turkey, her heart, mind and soul remain with him ? but for how long? Winner, Golden Bear, Berlin Film Festival. Best Film and Audience Choice Award, European Film Awards. Five awards, German Film Awards.?The Upside of Anger?

(d. Mike Binder, United States)

Joan Allen and Kevin Costner star in this romantic comedy about an ex-baseball player and the suburban wife and mother who is left to raise her four headstrong daughters when her husband unexpectedly disappears.?Turtles Can Fly?

(d. Bahman Ghobadi, Iran)

One of the year?s most celebrated films focuses on Kurdish children in a refugee camp on the Iraq-Turkey border just before the American invasion. Audience Award, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2005.?Two Angels?

(d. Mamad Haghighat, Iran)

Following a quarrel with his father, 15-year-old Ali flees to the desert where he hears a shepherd playing a rosewood flute. An angel appears. Ali goes to Tehran and meets pretty Azar. Her father is writing a book ? about angels. Official Selection, Cannes 2003.?A South African Love Story - Walter and Albertina Sisulu?

(d. Toni Strasburg, South Africa)

Documentary celebrates the enduring love of two of the African National Congress? founding members. Walter was the political muse and mentor of Nelson Mandela. Albertina kept the family together during Walter?s imprisonment on Robben Island.?Campfire?

(d. Joseph Cedar, Israel)

Thoughtful and beautiful love story intertwined with the intimate struggles of a 42-year-old widow facing her newly single life. Winner, Berlin Film Festival. Winner, five Israeli ?Academy Awards?.

?Shake Hands With the Devil?

(d. Peter Raymont, Canada)

Gen. Romeo Dallaire returns to Rwanda ten years after the genocide he tried so hard to prevent in this award-winning documentary. World Cinema Documentary Prize, Sundance 2005.?Mariken?

(d. Andre van Duren, Netherlands)

Compelling and poetic children?s film about spirited Mariken who lives in a secluded forest with an eccentric old hermit. Winner, Grand Prize, at Chicago International Children?s Film Festival, Netherlands Film Festival and Cinekids Film Festival.?McLibel?

(d. Franny Armstrong, United Kingdom)

World premiere documentary about the gardener and the postman who took on the corporate power of McDonald?s. Includes their recent European Court victory.

?The Last Mogul?

(d. Barry Avrich, Canada)

A documentary profile of movie mogul Lew Wasserman, who took on the mafia, the unions and Hollywood - and even controlled Washington.?Seeds?

(d. Marjan Safinia, Joseph Boyle, United States)

Inspiring documentary about an annual peace camp that brings together children from warring countries for a chance at friendship and, perhaps, peace.

?9 Songs?

(d. Michael Winterbottom, United Kingdom)

BIFF?s Filmmaker in Focus presents the most sexually explicit film ever released in UK theatres. ?Memo?

(d. Milos Jovanovic, Serbia & Montenegro)

Director orchestrates a stream-of-consciousness dream state in film about how war and totalitarian regimes toss one family along the soul-destroying currents of the mid-20th century.?The Chiefs?

(d. Jason Gileno, Canada)

Compelling documentary about the Laval Chiefs, the toughest team in the roughhouse Quebec Semi-Professional Hockey League. Special Jury Prize for an Outstanding Documentary, Atlantic Film Festival 2004.107 Minutes of Shorts

(Various)

Academy Award winning shorts ?The Mighty Times: The Children?s March? (Best Short Documentary) and ?Ryan? (Best Animated Short) highlight a selection of five short films, also including ?Through My Thick Glasses? (Pjotr Sapegin, Canada), ?Shadows of the Sun? (Bryan Single, Spain) and ?Fade to Black? (Gary Martin, England).?Look At Me?

(d. Agnes Jaoui, France)

Delightful and sophisticated Gallic comedy-drama was the deserving winner of Best Screenplay awards at the Cannes Film Festival and European Film Awards in 2004.?What Remains of Us?

(d. Francois Prevost, Hugo Latulippe, Canada)

Poignant award-winning documentary about ordinary Tibetans who see a smuggled message of hope from their exiled leader, the Dalai Lama. Best Canadian Film at 2004 Vancouver and Atlantic film festivals.?The Chorus?

(d. Christophe Barratier, France)

The feel-good festival film of the year about a boys? chorus and the teacher who gives them hope. Nominated, Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award in 2005.?Bad Education?

(d. Pedro Almodovar, Spain)

Spanish bad boy director?s defining statement on the fundamental relationship between ordinary life and the illusions projected in dark, mysterious movie houses. Winner, Best Foreign Language Film, New York Film Critics Circle Awards.