Sarajevo  - Launched 15 years ago as a symbol of defiance by the besieged city, the Sarajevo Film festival opens Wednesday night as a firmly-established regional event and a major stepping stone for authors from the "new Europe" to the big scene.

Romanian Cristian Mungui's Tales from the Golden Age opens the festival, to be followed by 231 titles, including 71 documentaries, until August 20. The films came from 53 countries, but the focus remains on eastern and southeastern European cinematography.

The competitive part of the festival features 10 titles from Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Turkey, Greece, Hungary and Slovenia. None of the ongoing film projects in Bosnia was completed in time for entry.

The jury - Serbian and Romanian actresses Mirjana Karanovic and Anamaria Marinca, Hungarian director Benedek Fliegauf and Christian Jeune and Wieland Speck, directors of the Cannes and Berlin film festivals - hands out the awards for the best film, actor and actress, as well as a special prize.

Jeune and Speck are in charge of selection at the festivals in Cannes and Berlin, which are among the largest and most influential in the world.

Guests of honour are American actors Gillian Anderson of the cult series X Files and Mickey Rourke, the star of the Wrestler, a film slated to run on the closing day of the festival.

Rourke's film and most other larger productions running outside the competitive segment will run in Sarajevo's Summer Cinema Open Air downtown arena with 3,500 seats.

The open air cinema became the centrepiece of the festival, in stark contrast to the event in its early days, which featured films played by VHS recorders in areas sheltered from mortars.

The "Tribute to?" segment of the festival this year has been dedicated to the Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke.

During the festival, Sarajevo also turns into a major movie business bourse, with its Cine Link Market the meeting ground for established and potential producers and authors from the region and beyond.

The Sarajevo Film Festival, with a budget of 1.9-million-dollar budget, expects some 1,500 guests, mostly personalities from the international movie industry, 700 reporters and 100,000 visitors. (dpa)