The agency will encourage celebrities to attend. Musicians Beverley Knight, Nick Mason and Ray Cooper already are confirmed to play at the gig.

The agency will work on the account until mid-June, targeting broadcast and the diary pages to gain coverage for the night.

It will also target the broadsheets and education supplements prior to the event to raise awareness of the charity’s work.

The Roundhouse Studio puts on creative workshops for young people aged 13-25 years. It has an 80 per cent success rate in getting young people back into formal education.

It is the charitable arm of The Roundhouse, a performing arts venue based in Camden.

And in between the two will be approximately 246 more features and 169 short films from around the world — 59 countries, to be exact.

Among the festival's special guests will be filmmaker John Waters, who will be interviewed on stage at Benaroya Hall in an event co-presented with Seattle Arts & Lectures June 3, and will present his 2000 comedy "Cecil B. DeMented" at the Egyptian.

SIFF co-founder Dan Ireland ("The Whole Wide World") will be present for the world premiere of his new film, "Jolene," based on a story by E.L. Doctorow and starring Jessica Chastain and Dermot Mulroney. Julia Sweeney ("God Said Ha!") comes to the festival with her new one-woman filmed performance piece, "Letting Go of God." Acclaimed animator Bill Plympton, a native of Portland (and a two-time Oscar nominee), will attend with his new film, "Idiots and Angels."

As always, SIFF will showcase the efforts of a number of local filmmakers. Lynn Shelton, whose 2006 debut "We Go Way Back" was a prizewinner at the Slamdance Film Festival, returns with her second made-in-Seattle film, "My Effortless Brilliance." Other features with local pedigrees are Jared Drake's comedy "Visioneers," starring Judy Greer and Internet comedian Zach Galifianakis; Joe Lia's drama "Sweet Thing"; Rufus Williams' psychological thriller "Butterfly Dreaming"; and Cornelia Duryé Moore's drama "The Dark Horse."

Documentaries with local ties include Tiffany Burns' "Mr. Big," about the 1994 Bellevue murder case for which Sebastian Burns (the filmmaker's brother) and Atif Rafay were convicted in 2004; Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin's "Good Food," about local efforts in sustainable farming and agriculture; Johnny Symons' "Ask Not," a look at gay Americans in the military; John Andreas' "Creative Nature," a profile of glass artist William Morris; Linas Phillips' "Great Speeches from a Dying World," in which members of Seattle's homeless community recite famous speeches from history; and Deirdre Timmons' "A Wink and a Smile," a look at the local burlesque scene.

The festival plans several musical events. "In the Land of the Headhunters," a 1914 silent melodrama by photographer Edward S. Curtis, will screen, accompanied by a performance by descendants of the original Kwakwaka'wakw cast, and the original orchestral score. The event, co-presented with Seattle Theatre Group and the Burke Museum, takes place at the Moore as part of the theater's centennial celebration (it hosted the film's original Seattle run 94 years ago).

"Alexander Nevsky," a 1938 epic drama from pioneering Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, will screen with its original Sergei Prokofiev score performed by the Seattle Symphony, at Benaroya Hall. And the Sub Pop indie rock band the Autumn Leaf will present a new original live score to a silent-film classic, F.W. Murnau's "Sunrise," in a special evening at the Triple Door.

Many of the festival's trademark events will return: the Secret Festival (hush-hush Sunday screenings of movies whose titles can't be announced); a midnight-movie series; the all-ages Films4Families matinees; and themed programs such as Planet Cinema (environmental subject matter), Face the Music (music documentaries) and Alternate Cinema (experimental works). The festival's usual Saturday-night gala screenings, however, have been replaced with one midfest Centerpiece Gala (Sean McGinly's comedy "The Great Buck Howard") and a Gay-La featuring C. Jay Cox's "Kiss the Bride."

Festival venues include SIFF Cinema, Egyptian, Harvard Exit, Pacific Place and the Uptown, with Cinerama hosting screenings over the final weekend and Northwest Film Forum presenting the Alternate Cinema series during the first week. Unlike the past couple of years, there will be no Eastside screenings.

Tickets go on sale to festival members Thursday (the same day a complete guide to the festival will appear as a Seattle Times pullout section); the general public may buy tickets starting May 11. Prices range from $850 for a full series pass (a jump from $800 last year) to $57 for the popular Cinematic Six-Pack to $11 for individual regular screenings.

For festival updates as this cinematic behemoth draws nearer, see www.siff.net.

The 54-year-old died on March 18 after suffering a fatal haemorrhage at Charring Cross Hospital in west London after undergoing an operation on a growth in his neck.

Among the mourners at the service at St Thomas's Church in Newport, on the Isle of Wight, were actors Jude Law and Alan Rickman. The service was organised by his family and the Isle of Wight Council.

Minghella was born and brought up in Ryde where his parents Edward and Gloria Minghella still live and run an ice cream business.

The director of The English Patient, Cold Mountain and Truly, Madly, Deeply was made the first Freeman of the Isle of Wight in 1997.

In a statement, the Minghella family said: "We will miss Anthony more than we can say. Of course he was a brilliant director and writer, acclaimed worldwide for his amazing talents.

"But more than that he was a wonderful son, husband, father, brother and uncle, who loved and was loved by all who knew him.

"His genius and his gift of gentle human kindness live on in his work and in the hearts of those he has so tragically left behind.

"He never forgot his island roots and was honoured to be made the first Freeman of the Isle of Wight."

Also in attendance was TV gardening expert Alan Titchmarsh who was recently made the High Sheriff of the Isle of Wight and was attending as part of his ceremonial duties.