Editor

The competition line up of the 24th Fribourg International Film Festival was revealed today. 13 long features from Asia, Latin America and the Caucasus have been selected. As a true premiere in the festival's history, Armenia and Georgia are represented. From March 13 to 20, the Festival will showcase more than 80 films; most of them being screened as Swiss premiere.  

As every year, the International Competition forms the heart of the Festival. One of its most remarkable aspects is the vitality displayed by Latin American productions: Colombia and Mexico are represented with two fictions each, while films from Argentina and Costa Rica are also contenders for the Regard d'Or. Productions from Egypt, Palestine, Armenia, Georgia, the Philippines and Vietnam round off the 2010 selection, which displays seven first films by young filmmakers. 

Another striking characteristic of these films is their depiction of an almost universal theme: the questioning of boundaries - geographic, state-controlled, social, economic, personal and aesthetic - as well as their existential power and the recurrent desire to overcome them. Because is impossible for us to ignore this influence, this year's distribution of competing films shuns the conventional borders of the three continents that modelled the history of the FIFF.

The competition is judged by the International Jury featuring Hanna Schygulla (Germany/France), Rakhshan Bani-Etemad (Iran), Michel Ciment (France), Patrick Ferla (Switzerland) and Igor Minaiev (Ukraine/France). The awards are endowed with a total amount of CHF 75'000. The award ceremony will take place on Saturday, March 20, at 5 PM followed by the Swiss premiere of Juan José Campanella's latest film, El Secreto de sus Ojos, Academy Award nominee for this year's Best Foreign Language Film.

Six panoramas, one public forum dedicated to television series in the Middle East, three short film selections and numerous guests promise an exciting week full of discoveries and encounters.

The official selection: The international competition 2010

Adrift - Bui Thac Chuyen, Vietnam 2009, 110 mins, Swiss premiere

Agua fría de mar - Paz Fábrega, Costa Rica, F, Es, NL, Mex 2009, 83 mins, Swiss premiere

Border - Harutyun Khachatryan, Armenien, NL 2009, 82 mins, Swiss premiere

El Vuelco del Cangrejo - Oscar Ruíz Navia, Kolumbien, F 2009, 95 mins, Swiss premiere

La Sangre y la Lluvia - Jorge Navas, Kolumbien 2009, 90 mins, Swiss premiere

Lola - Brillante Mendoza, Philippinen 2009, 110 mins, Swiss premiere

Norteado - Rigoberto Perezcano, Mexiko, Spanien 2009, 93 mins, Swiss premiere

Perpetuum Mobile - Nicolás Pereda, Mexiko, Kanada, F 2009, 86 mins, Swiss premiere

Rompecabezas - Natalia Smirnoff, Argentinien, F 2009, 86 mins, Swiss premiere 

Tehroun - Nader T. Homayoun, Iran 2009, 95 mins, Swiss premiere 

The Other Bank - George Ovashvili, Georgien 2009, 90 mins, Swiss premiere 

Wahed-Sefr - Kamla Abu Zekry, Ägypten 2009, 114 mins, Swiss premiere 

Zindeeq - Michel Khleifi, Palästina, GB, Belgien, VAE 2009, 85 mins, international premiere