The program for the 19th Stockholm International Film Festival is revealed. On-line ticket sales begin today. The Stockholm film festival is devoted to promoting up-and-coming debutantes, but also presents a world-class selection of established directors. The festival boasts over 170 films from 40 countries.
"This year´s program keeps up the momentum. Out of the 175 films at the festival a third are made by first time directors. This is where the exciting directors are introduced," says Festival Director Git Scheynius

The international competition section is open to directors who have made three films or less. Out of competition, the audience has the chance to see films by directors like Baz Luhrmann, Takeshi Kitano, Oliver Stone, Steven Soderbergh and Clint Eastwood. The Wrestler, by Stockholm Film Festival Visionary Award winner Darren Arenovsky, opens this year’s festival. Below is a presentation of the 9 festival sections, as well as a list of filmmakers who are scheduled to visit Stockholm during the festival.

The Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award 2008
This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to English-French actor Charlotte Rampling.
Charlotte Rampling will attend the Stockholm International Film Festival to receive the Bronze Horse award in person as well as participate in a Face2Face in conjunction with the screening of her latest film “The Duchess”.

The Stockholm Visionary Award 2008
This year’s Visionary Award is presented to Chinese director Wong Kar Wai. Wong Kar Wai will attend the Stockholm International Film Festival to receive the Bronze Horse award in person as well as participate in a Face2Face in conjunction with the screening of his film “Ashes of Time Redux” on November 28.

The Stockholm XIX Competition
The international competition section is open to directors who have made no more than three feature films. 20 films compete for the Bronze Horse, which is presented for Best Feature. This year films like “Frozen River” by Courtney Hunt, “Hunger” by Steve McQueen and “Plastic City” by Yu Lik Wai will be in competition with each other.

Stockholm XIX Short Film Competition
The international competition section for short films. The 20 films, which compete for an Aluminum Horse, are each screened before one of the films in the competition for feature films. Amongst the short films screened are Natalie Portman´s “Eve” and Marian Crisan´s “Megatron”.

Open Zone
Feature films from acclaimed directors in contemporary cinema from around the world. They include Baz Luhrmann´s epic “Australia”, Clint Eastwood´s “Changeling”, winner of the Palm d´Or at the Cannes Film Festival “The Class” by Laurent Cantet and “The Argentine” by Steven Soderbergh.

American Independents
The section for new independent films from upcoming as well as established American directors. Films like Oliver Stone´s “W”, Darren Aronofsky´s “The Wrestler” share the spotlight with, amongst others, Jonathan Demme´s “Rachel Getting Married”.

Asian Images
This section is the audience’s chance to indulge in films from one of the most creative and prolific filmmaking regions in the world. “Achilles and the Tortoise” by Takeshi Kitano as well as the international co-production “Tokyo!” by Michel Gondy and Bong Joon-Ho are some of the films you will find in this section.

Spotlight: Russia
In this year’s Spotlight, the Stockholm International Film Festival looks East towards Russia with movies like the suburban Moscow drama “Everybody Dies But Me” and Venice-awarded “Paper Soldier”.

Collage
This section boasts the most memorable and controversial tv-productions, documentaries and art films of the year. It will span from documentaries like “Valentino:The Last Emperor” to Morgan Spurlock´s “Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?”.

Twilight Zone
The Stockholm film festival buffet of horror and ground-breaking genre films will screen amongst others Brad Anderson´s “Transsiberia”, the metafilm about Jean Claude van Dame “JCVD” and the David ynch-produced “ Surveillance” by Jennifer Lynch.

Dedication: Sydney Pollack
The 19th Stockholm International Film Festival is dedicated to the late American director Sydney Pollack. Festival-goers will have the chance to re-watch the 1969 classic They Shoot Horses, Don´t They?

iFestival
iFestival is comprised by films screened over the Internet, with the whole world as an audience. Festival visitors can watch the films and vote for their favorite online. Through the iFestival, the Stockholm International Film Festival was the first in the world to create a section exclusively for the web. iFestival has around 500 000 visitors per year.

Work-in-progress
In this section, the Stockholm audience has a unique opportunity to see some of the most interesting current film projects in Sweden and beyond – before they are even finished. Festival visitors can see parts of films still in production and hear directors talk about their projects in adjoining Face2Face meetings. This year the audience will get an insight into the work process of directors such as Måns Mårlind and Björn Steins recently wrapped Hollywood production “Shelter” as well as Theras Fabik and Johan Jonasons productions.

Tickets
Ticket sales start on October 22 at 12 pm (noon). Tickets are sold on the festival website, www.stockholmfilmfestival.se, or in the festival center at Kulturhuset (Sergels Torg). From November 20, it will also be possible to purchase tickets at theaters in connection to the screenings. Admission to the screenings requires a membership card for 2008 (on sale where tickets are sold) and a valid ticket.