The seventh Chennai International Film Festival, being organised by Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation (ICAF), will be held in Chennai from December 16 in which films from over 140 countries will be screened.

According to S Ve Shekher, vice chairman, organising committee, "We are hopeful of getting the State government's sanction as well as that of Centre. It is a pride that we are hosting in Chennai a festival of such a big scale".

On his part, S Thangaraj, general secretary, ICAF said, "At the festival country focus would be on Belgium, Finland, and the Netherlands, while director retrospective would be on Roland Weber (Germany)."

He added film institute students and assistant directors can avail the opportunity and watch all movies as films screened at Cannes, IFFI at Goa and other festivals are coming to Chennai.

For the first time, a competition for Tamil films has been arranged in the festival, Thangaraj said and added: "The jury for the Tamil film section comprises of actress Revathy, cinematographer-director B Kannan and journalist Bharath (News Today)."

The movies competing for honours at the festival include 'Achchamundu Achchamundu', 'Kanthaswamy', 'Pasanga', 'Naadodigal', 'Ayan', 'Pokkisham', 'Eesa' and 'Thiru Thiru Thuru Thuru'. The jury will announce the winners on 24 December.

"It is the first time a competition has been organised for Tamil films in an international festival. The jury has been selected keeping in mind that it should comprise an actor / actress, technician and a film critic", said Thangaraj.

Movies to be screened at the film fest include those from countries like Albania, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Romania, China and Japan. The festival would be inaugurated on December 16 by Union Minister of State for Information S Jagathrakshahan.

The opening film of the festival is 'Broken Embraces' (Spain) directed by Pedro Almodovar. For more details and passes contact 9840151956 or visit www.chennaifilmfest.org.