ElijahWood, Kathy Bates and Anna Paquin are among the guestswho will be attending the 36th edition of the GiffoniFilm Festival, one of the world's leading events for children's films.

Filmsscreening in competition at Giffoni (July 13-22) includePeter Cattaneo's OpalDream about a girl who lives in a small Australian opal mining town and hastwo special friends nobody else can see.

Thecompetition will also feature Jalla Jalla director Josef Fares' new film, Zozo. Set in1987, Zozois about a boy who grows up in Beirut during the civil war. Oneday, his family is killed during a bomb attack and he is sent to Sweden to live with hisgrandparents.

Otherfilms include Bill Paxton's The GreatestGame Ever Played, about two men competing in the 1913 Open golfchampionship, and Jessica Bendinger's film, Stick It, about a rebellious girl who isenrolled in an elite gymnastics programme.

Thefestival, founded and directed by Claudio Gubitosi,has four competition strands, with films divided by target age group.

Thefestival's jury is composed of 1600 young people from 29 countries, between theages of 6 and 25, who will be able to interact with the festival's guest actorsand directors.

Giffoni, a small town near Naples and the Amalfi Coast, will also host theEuropean premiere of Garfield 2.

Since2005, Giffoni has a twin event in Los Angeles called Giffoni Hollywood, whose honorary president is Jon Voight. It has also spawned sister events in Australia and in Poland.