The Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival (Festival do Rio) has unveiled the initial Brazilian selection for its 2011 edition, which runs Oct 6-18.

This year’s Premiere Brazil competition section, together with sidebar sections for which local films are also eligible, will boast a record 27 world premieres.

Among selected films from festival favourites and previous prize winners will be Selton Mello’s The Clown (O Palhaco), Karim Aïnouz’s The Silver Cliff (O Abisimo Prateado) [pictured], Beto Brant’s I’d Receive The Worst News From Your Beautiful Lips (Eu Receberia As Piores Noticias De Seus Lindos Labios) and documentary-maker Eduardo Coutinho’s Songs (Cancoes).

Other world premieres are Odilon Rocha’s Prime Time Soap (A Novela Das Oito), Tadeu Jungle’s Tomorrow Never Again (Amanha Nunca Mais), Vinicius Coimbra’s Matraga (A Hora e a Vez De Augusto Matraga) and Cecilia Amado’s Captains of the Sand (Capitaes De Areia).

The festival will also showcase a selection of films previously selected for other festivals, including Aleksander Sokurov’s Faust, Berlin Golden Bear winner Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation, Cannes prize winners Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive and Maiwenn’s Poliss and Venice Special Jury Prize recipient Emanuele Crialese’s Terraferma.

Festival guests will include Crialese, Willem Dafoe (attending for the Brazilian premiere of his wife Giada Colagrande’s A Woman), Abel Ferrara and Shanyn Leigh (for a screening of 4:44 Last Day On Earth) and Marisa Peredes (for Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In, which the festival says is “likely” to be its opening night film).

Other works of master film makers will include Zhang Yimou’s Under the Hawthorn Tree, Martin Scorsese’s George Harrison and Todd Solondz’s Dark Horse.

In total, the festival will show more than 350 films from 60 countries in 40 venues throughout the city.

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