The big-name opening-night selection is Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu's highly anticipated multinational epic, "Babel," which was shot on three continents in four languages (and stars Brad Pitt). There are productions from France, Argentina, China, Japan, Turkey, Italy, Iceland, Russia, the United Kingdom and many others. And this year's festival spotlights cinema from Southeast Asia, with cutting-edge work from the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

The festival runs Oct. 19 to 29 at venues around Honolulu.

See tomorrow's Island Life section for a full HIFF preview.

On the festival's opening day, The Advertiser will launch a special online HIFF section chock full of tips, film clips, photos, audio files and other goodies from HIFF insiders.