The world premiere of Norsk Film's musical documentary Cool And Crazy opens this month's Tromso International Film Festival.

Belgium's Thomas Est Amoureux closes the Norwegian event, located 200 miles north of the Arctic circle and the country's most attended festival. This year's edition, which runs January 16 to 21, will be the festival's first as a competitive event, with 15 films vying for the Aurora prize.

Tromso will screen such festival favourites as Sabu's Monday, from Japan, and Moufida Tlatli's Tunisian film, The Season Of Men. Also in the line-up are Agnes Varda's Les Glaneurs Et La Glaneuse, from France, Daniel Burman's Argentine title Waiting For The Messiah and Jafar Panahi's The Circle, from Iran.

The winner of the Aurora prize is guaranteed theatrical release in Norway. International film critics association FIPRESCI will also be present with a jury. Last year's festival sold 32,000 tickets in a country with a population of 60,000.