The 38th Belgrade International Film Festival (FEST) opened Friday with the screening of "Morphia" by award-wining Russian director Alexei Balabanov. The 10-day film festival will show 64 movies from about 30 countries, at various venues throughout the city.

FEST was originally conceived as a review of the best films of the season without a competition program. However, this year eight films from non-EU member European countries will be competing in the category "Europe out of Europe".

Other themed categories include: Horizons, a collection of films shown previously at other prestigious festivals; Lighthouse, featuring new film makers; Facts and Puzzles, screening recent thought-provoking documentaries, and FantAsia, a selection of inspiring works from Asia.

Two Chinese films are featured in this last category:"Chengdu, I love you,'"directed by Jian Cui and Fruit Chan and 'Fu chou,' a Hong Kong, French co-production, directed by Johnnie To.

"We managed to acquire the best in world cinema," announced Sandra Perovic, a film journalist and FEST board member, to reporters. "It is time for FEST to regain the reputation it had at the beginning, in the 1970s."

When it began in 1971, the festival immediately drew an impressive guest list of Hollywood actors--Sophia Loren, Liv Ullmann, and Robert de Niro, among others--and their films. At that time, Yugoslavia was the political buffer between the two superpowers in Europe. FEST represented access to markets and an opportunity for political exchange. However, as the political climate in Europe thawed, the importance of FEST diminished.

Unlike the glitzy days of the 70's and 80's, FEST in the 1990' s was void of mainstream Hollywood fare, largely due to imposed economic sanctions and the breakup of Yugoslavia. It was also during this period that FEST was cancelled for two years. Subsequently, the festival focused on films from the former Soviet Union, India, Iran and China. Technically, although this year's FEST is the 38th it has been in existence for 40 years.