Vienna Kicks Off Two-Week Film Festival

Vienna's annual film festival, the Viennale, kicked off Thursday evening, promising over 200 movies and documentaries and guest stars like director David Cronenberg and legend Harry Belafonte.

The two-week event opened its 49th edition with Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki's film "Le Havre" and will close on November 2 with George Clooney's political drama "The Ides of March", one of the hits at this year's Venice Film Festival.

Among the dozens of films from around the world featured at this year's Viennale are Nanni Moretti's pope comedy "Habemus Papam", Iran's "Be Omid e Didar" (Goodbye) by Cannes winner Mohammad Rasoulof and the HBO mini-series "Mildred Pierce", starring Kate Winslet.

Over 100 documentaries and short films from Argentina and Israel to China and Egypt's Tahrir Square complete the program and will be screened alongside a retrospective of French director Chantal Akerman's works.

Cronenberg will also be on hand to present his film "A Dangerous Mind" -- featuring that famous Viennese, Sigmund Freud, and partly shot in the Austrian capital -- as will Moretti, Akerman and many others.

Singer and social activist Harry Belafonte has meanwhile been named guest of honor, with several of his films to be screened during the festival, as well as Susanne Rostock's documentary "Sing Your Song" which he narrated.

Although not comparable to the film fests of Venice, Cannes or Berlin, which attract countless stars and dish out prestigious awards, the Viennale has nevertheless gained popularity over the years, drawing ever bigger names and often selling out within hours of tickets going on sale.