The first edition of theSpanish Film Screenings of Madrid kick off this weekend with an anticipated 105international buyers flying in to screen a selection of recent Spanish featurefilms.

The new three-day event(June 18-20) picks up where the Spanish Film Screenings of Lanzarote,cancelled this year after six editions, left off.

Already Madrid anticipates more buyers than Lanzarote,a fact organizers say underscores the impetus for the move to the capital city,where the bulk of the local film business is housed and a destination mucheasier to reach from abroad.

"Everybody said Madridneeded to be the centre," Pedro Perez, president of the Spanish Producers'Federation FAPAE, said at Thursday's presentation of the event, adding that themajority of sales on Spanish films are now concentrated in the hands of just afew companies.

Still, some 20 sales andproduction companies will accompany the films on show, which include newfeatures from directors including David Trueba, JoseLuis Cuerda, Ventura Pons, Jaume Balaguero, Fernando Leonand Maria Ripoll.

Non-Spanish sales outfitswill also attend, including London-based IAC Films with Berlinaleentry The Feast Of The Goat, Germany's Match Factory with Sundance screener Madeinusa, and Germany's Media Luna Entertainment, which has picked upsales duties on Jo Sol's El Taxista Ful and Berlin documentary TheRailroad All Stars (Estrellas De La Linea).

Another 17 Europeanproducers have been invited, some of whom will participate in a roundtableMonday on European co-productions, new technologies and the financing of theEuropean film industry.

Inaddition to the 51 recent Spanish films to be screened, more than 100 othertitles will be available in a video library on site. Spain produced a record 142 feature films in 2005.

The105 buyers represent 36 different countries from Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East. Thebiggest contingent expected is from the US, with high-profile companies including FocusFeatures, New Line, HBO, Miramax Films and The Weinstein Company.