The CineMart project market (Jan 26-30) held under the umbrella of the Rotterdam film festival, unveiled what its organisers claimed is one of its strongest ever line-ups.

"We had a terribly difficult time making the final selection," said Ido Abram, Cinemart chief. "That was because we had more projects thatn ever submitted and more good ones. We had to lose a lot of our favourites."

The selection presents a geographically varied line-up of film projects by acclaimed directors, some of which have long track records, others are highly-rated newcomers.

The line-up includes a better than expected showing from Europe and an improving selection from Latin America.

There is room too, for directors who have previously appeared in Rotterdam, such as Bohdan Slama and at least one partially-completed project 29 Palms by French director Bruno Dumont, which is already tipped for a place in Cannes.


CineMart Line-up

El Abrazo Partido - Daniel Burman - Argentina
La Ronde De Nuit - Edgardo Cozarinsky - France/Argentina
Touch - Clara Law - Australia
Semi-Detached - Tony Ayres - Australia
Hotel - Jessica Hausner - Austria/Germany
Steen Der Hulp - Bavo Defurne - Belgium
Zunk - Johan Grimonprez - Belgium
Beata Santa - Patrice Toye - Belgium/France
Le Gardien Des Buffles - Minh Nguyen-Vo - Belgium/Vietnam
Die Welt Ist Gross Und Rettung Lauert Uberall - Stephan Komandarev - Bulgaria/Germany
Gregor S - Serge Marcotte - Canada
Xiang Er Kui - Zhang Yang - China/Usa
Serial Killer - Oxide & Danny Pang - Hong Kong
Stesti - Bohdan Slama - Czech Republic
Cronicas (La Hora De La Verdad) - Sebastian Cordero & Isabel Davalos - Ecuador/Mexico/US
Bab Aziz - Nacer Khemir - Tunisia
Wild Side - Sebastien Lifshitz - France
Chemins De Traverse - Manuel Poirier - France
Hymen - Emmanuelle Caquille - France
29 Palms - Bruno Dumont - France
La Nuit De La Verite - Fanta Regina Nacro - France/Burkina Faso
Gull - Clive Gordon - Spain/Germany
Dallas - Robert Pejo - Hungary
Saga/Njala - Baltasar Kormakur - Iceland
Let The Wind Blow - Partho Sen Gupta - India/France
Sayonara, Samurai! - Amir Karakulov - Japan/Kazakhstan
Home Is Where The Heart Is - Theo Van Gogh - The Netherlands/UK
Blind - Tamar Van Den Dop - Netherlands
Zeekoorts - Erik De Bruyn - Netherlands
Kroniek Van Algerije - Karim Traïdia - Netherlands
Haas En De Anderen - Nanouk Leopold - Netherlands
The Big Chop - Rachel Davies - New Zealand
Bulibasha - Andrew Bancroft - New Zealand
Habana Blues - Benito Zambrano - Spain
Help Me - Lee Kang-Sheng - Taiwan
Mai-Hed-Pra-Ted-Thai - Nonzee Nimibutr - Thailand
Firtina - Kazim Oz - Turkey
Mood Music - Jonathan Romney - UK
The Summer Of '76 - Philip Ridley - UK
Sabi's Story - Kenny Gleenan - UK
Signal To Noise - Dave Mckean - UK
Two Bodies, Floating - Bille Eltringham - UK
$ 9,99 - Tatia Rosenthal - US
The Magician's Assistant - Patricia Cardoso - US
How To Marry A Prince - Fran Kuzui - US/Cambodia