The 14th edition of the MedFilm Festival 2008, to run from 6-16 Nov, will bring to Rome 177 feature films, shorts and documentaries from 41 different countries, including 40 national premieres. This year's guests of honour are Turkey and Germany, and there will be special screenings highlighting young talents from both countries, as well as a retrospective dedicated to the award-winning German director Fatih Akin, of Turkish descent.

The films competing include Ramy Emam's Egyptian box-office smash "Hassan Wa Morqos" ("Hassan & Morqos") starring Omar Sharif; a Spanish entry, Emilio Martinez Lazaro's "Las 13 Rosas" ("13 Roses") and a Turkish-German co-production, "Sonbahar" ("Autumn") by Ozcan Alper. Federico Bondi's debut film, "Mar Nero" ("Black Sea"), represents Italy. Iran will be competing for the first time with "Seh Zan" ("3 Women"), an all-female effort by director Manijeh Hekmat and screenwriter Naghmeh Samini.

A special section is dedicated to the environment with projections of the best videos sent in to Al Gore's Current TV. Space will also be dedicated to French cinema and will include a tribute to the Egyptian director Youssef Chanine who died this year.

Screenings will take place at the Embassy cinema, the Palazzo delle Esposizioni (the Via Milano 9A entrance), the Teatro dei Dioscuri and Villa Medici. Tickets can only be purchased at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni and cost