Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield's Earth will open the fourth annual Amazonas Film Festival in Manaus, Brazil. The announcement came as the festival unveiled its feature and documentary film competitions as well as its symposium for the 2007 edition which runs Nov 9-15.

The UK-Germany co-production, a feature-length companion to the 11-part BBC television series Planet Earth, premiered at San Sebastian. Closing the festival will be Jean-Jacques Annaud's His Majesty Minor (Sa Majeste Minor). Annaud is this year's Guest of Honour.

The feature competition includes Feng Xiaogong's Assembly, Asif Kapadia's Far North, Micha Wald's Horse Thieves, Florent-Emilio Siri's Intimate Enemies, Michael James Rowland's Lucky Miles, Carlos Alberto Riccelli's The Sign Of The City (O Signo Da Cidade), Marion Hansel's Sounds Of Sand and Andrew Dominik's The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford.

Filmmaker John Boorman will preside over the feature film jury, which includes actresses Elena Anaya, Bai Ling, Caterina Murino and Joana Preiss as well as film-maker Jan Kounen. Darren Aronofsky was previously scheduled to serve as a juror but has withdrawn.

Films competing in the documentary strand include Jos de Putter's Before The Flood, Jean Queyrat's Black Samurai, Jamie Robertson's Bug Brother, Rehad Desai and Richard Wicksteed's Bushman's Secret, Peter Hayden's Chernoblyl Reclaimed - An Animal Takeover, Patrick Morris' Galapagos - Born Of Fire, Jerome Raynaud's Jaglavak - Prince Of Insects, Christian Baumeister's Megafalls Of Igacu, Jorge Bodanzky and Evaldo Mocarzel's Navegar Amazonia - A Voyage With Jorge Mautner, Charles-Antoine de Rouvres' The Ethiopian Wolf, Michael Taylor's The Great Warming and Marcel Hartawan's The Mud.

UK documentarian Richard Brock will preside over the documentary jury.

As part of its mandate to explore environmental issues, Amazonas will also present the Manaus Symposium on Nov 14, with two debates: 'Television and Cinema: Will They Save The World'', a discussion on the power of media to persuade viewers about the environmental world; and 'Is Environment A Gold Mine',' a discussion on the future of environmental media.

The festival will also present an open-air screening of Annaud's Two Brothers (2004), the story of brother tigers separated as cubs who re-encounter each other as adults. Boorman's The Emerald Forest (1985) will also receive a special screening.

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