Films from 35 countries have been hand-picked for screening by the director of the third Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, Michael Dwyer.
"There's no committee. I pick everything. I'm the dictator as well as the director," he said happily.
The function of the festival, which will show 95 feature films, is "to present people with a snapshot of world film". This line-up includes seven new Irish feature films, while 23 of the 25 short films are also Irish.
The opening film is the world première of the Irish-made The Mighty Celt, written and directed by Belfast man Pearse Elliott.
"It's about a kid and a dog, in the best tradition of Kes. There's also a love story in it," said Elliott, who also wrote Man About Dog, the most successful Irish film released last year. He and that film's director, Paddy Breathnach, are now working on developing a Christian Brother/ slasher horror film.
Rory Concannon, the festival's chief executive, is especially looking forward to 9 Songs, Michael Winterbottom's controversial new film.
"He's my favourite director," said Concannon. "He's always humorous, his films always have multi-layered messaging. He's a sensitive director and an artist and he uses the art form as a canvas." And yes, he believes the film is "extremely explicit".
Renée Weldon, the Irish actor who stars in another Irish-created film, Trouble With Sex, also came to the launch of the programme in the Odeon Bar in Dublin. The film will also be given its world première at the festival. Written by Fintan Connolly, it's "a love story between two people from very different backgrounds," said Weldon, who plays a high-powered lawyer. The male lead is that of a publican played by Aidan Gillen.
Others at the festival party were producer and writer Brian Palfrey; Siobhán O'Donoghue, of the EU funding body, Media Desk Ireland; and Catherine Punch, of the Screen Directors' Guild of Ireland.
To book tickets for the festival, which runs from Friday, February 11th to Sunday, February 20th, telephone the Central Ticket Bureau (01-872 1122) or go to www.dubliniff.com