Jakarta int`l festival to open Thursday

The 11th Jakarta International Film Festival (Jiffest) is to be held at the Blitz Megaplex, Grand Indonesia, on December 4-14, 2009.

"The 11th Jiffest will be opened on Thursday of this week," the event`s media relations coordinator, Husna Fauzi, said here on Wednesday.

Husna explained this year`s event would include an Indonesian Feature Film Competition (IFFC) as one of its main programs. Any Indonesian movie released between October 1, 2008 and September 30, 2009, could take part in the competition to vie in two award categories.

"There are two award categories, namely Best Movie and Best Director," said Husna adding that Jiffest would also present a Madani Film Festival featuring Islamic-themed movies from around the world.

This year`s Jiffest would begin with the screening of an Indonesian movie titled "Sang Pemimpi" (The Dreamer). The film is a sequel to the successful movie made in 2008 titled "Laskar Pelangi" Rainbow Legion).

During the 10-day event, Husna added, Jiffest would present to the audience some 114 movies from 24 countries in the world.

As its closing event, Jiffest would play movies directed by 11 well-known directors such as Fatih Akin and Mira Nair`s film titled "New York, I Love You."

In addition, she said, the organizing committee had also arranged an exhibition featuring works from Switzerland`s graphic and visual designers seen on Hollywood movies such as "Alien", "The Matrix" and "The Lord of The Rings" trilogy.