Faye Dunaway agreed months ago to serve as Jury President of the 15th Paris Film Festival, which runs March 27-April 3 -- but that was before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences asked her to give Warren Beatty the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award on March 26. Dunaway will attend the Oscars and fly to Paris the next day, starting "work" on March 28.

The Festival, which began as an event to familiarize schoolchildren with the cinema and related professions turned competitive four years ago. As Festival President Daniel Toscan du Plantier points out, "There are 'city' festivals and 'beach' festivals. Cannes and Venice are beach festivals -- the only people who live in those locales are rich folks and their hairdressers and those festivals are insular events for people who make movies. Berlin, on the other hand, is a city festival. And so are we. There will be plenty of film professionals on hand to mix with and meet their audiences, but this is, first and foremost an event for the general public."

The celebrity jury also includes screenwriter Danièle Thompson, actress Michèle Laroque, writer Noëlle Chatelet, journalist André Bercoff, producer Philippe Carcassonne, advertising honcho Gérard Gros, composer Eric Serra and director Erick Zonca. In adition to Best Actor and Actress honors, the jury selects a Grand Prix winner, which received 700,000 francs worth of posters on public transport from Métrobus and the Special Jury Prize, which consists of 500,000 francs worth of advertising on national French radio station NRJ.

The nine films in competition are all recent first or second films. They are: Drôle de Félix by Jacques Martineau and Olivier Ducastel (France), Autour de Yana by Arik Kaplun (Israel), André le magnifique by Emmanuel Silvestre and Thibault Staib (France), White Boys by Marc Levin (U.S.A.), Bloody Angels by Jarin Julsrud (Norway), Comme toi... by Gabriele Muccino (Italy), Jesus' Son by Alison Maclean (U.S.A.), The Five Senses by Jeremy Podeswa (Canada) and Suzhou River by Lou Ye (China.)

"Le Prix Carte Noire du Court-metrage" consists of 50,000 francs in cash for the best short film in competition. The Carte Noire jury will be led by actress Elsa Zylberstein.

An American delegation, including Jack Valenti and Bill Backer of the Motion Picture Association; producers Rick McCallum (longtime associate of George Lucas) and Richard Gladstein; directors Oliver Stone (whose Any Given Sunday opens the fest) and Irvin Kershner; screenwriter Kevin 'Scream' Williamson and thesps Sharon Stone, Charlie Sheen, Christian Slater, Rosanna Arquette, Adrian Paul, Josh Blair Witch Leonard and Leelee Sobieski will attend the fest as the first beneficiaries of an annual program to honor other world-class cities. Berlin will follow Los Angeles next year.

With their French counterparts led by Claude Lelouch, the U.S. delegation will lunch with President Jacques Chirac at the Elysees Palace on Saturday March 31, followed by a Franco-American conference at the Sorbonne. Gregory Peck had planned to lead the Yank contingent but was forced to withdraw on March 2, due to a theatrical obligation. At press time, Francis Coppola -- whose daughter Sofia's directing debut The Virgin Suicides is in the fest -- was expected to sub for Peck.

Toscan du Plantier emphasizes that the new 'sister-city' program "is not a summit conference - it's a friendly exchange." He points out that "whereas American films occupy roughly 80% of the world's screens, in this festival they represent only 8% of the total films shown."

The Festival budget has doubled this year to 10 million francs and the organizers have rented the entire Gaumont Marignan six-plex at the foot of the Champs-Elysees, in order to show show 60 some films from 17 countries. With a total of 1800 seats available, the fest hopes to attract 100,000 people.

Another innovation this year is the planned installation of celebrity signatures in the Champs-Elysees sidewalk, as a variation on the handprints in front of Mann's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard in LA.

The French-language magazine "Synopsis," which has just stepped up to a 6-times-a-year publishing schedule due to its nearly instant success, is sponsoring daily screenwriting workshops at 4:30. Shaffer pens sponsors regular autograph-signing sessions at noon and 2 p.m.. On April 2 only, a fee earmarked for the children's charity Enfance et Partage will be charged for each autograph. In theory, all the stars from the American delegation will participate.

A giant video screen outside the Gaumont Marignan will give passers-by a chance to watch actors and directors interact with audiences. Festival-goers will elect the "Prix du Public" from 12 films slated for an imminent commercial release in French theaters.

A separate Press Jury will judge a selection of international art films, none of which currently have French distributors.

The Paris Film Festival remains true to its mission of welcoming the general public by making admission tickets dirt cheap by Paris standards: 50 francs (40 for people under age 25) buys a day pass and 200 (150 under age 25) provides access to all screenings and public events. (A regular cinema admission ticket in Paris costs between 45 and 51 francs).

Fest closes April 3 with the world premiere of Alexandre Arcady's La-Bas, mon pays at the 3800-seat Palais des Congrès.

FilmFestivals.com contributor
Lisa Nesselson