250 movies over eight days and nights

The 44th Murphy's Cork Film Festival opens at Cork Opera House tomorrow night with the Irish premiere of the new John Sayles …

The 44th Murphy's Cork Film Festival opens at Cork Opera House tomorrow night with the Irish premiere of the new John Sayles movie, Limbo, which features Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as a nomadic cabaret singer and David Strathairn as a former fisherman with whom she becomes involved in Alaska. Over 250 films - features, shorts and documentaries - will be screened over the eight days and nights of the festival.

Among the highlights of the impressive international programme are Deborah Warner's The Last September, adapted by John Banville from the novel by Elizabeth Bowen (Monday); Tom Tykwer's exhilarating German thriller, Run Lola Run (Tuesday); and a special screening of Alfred Hitchcock's 1929 silent film, Blackmail (Wednesday) complete with live music.

The hottest ticket on the programme is likely to be next Friday's late-night screening of the phenomenally successfully, nobudget horror movie, The Blair Witch Project.

For further information call the festival office on (021) 271711.