CHICAGO, April 1, 2007, (WAFA)- The Chicago Palestine Film Festival (CPFF) reported that it would organize the 6th annual festival which will take place from April 14-April 26, 2007.

CPFF said that the 2007shortlist includes fifteen films by twenty-one Palestinian and eight other filmmakers.

CPFF will present the Chicago premiere of LEILA KHALED, HIJACKER by Palestinian filmmaker Lina Makboul from Sweden, on Saturday, April 14.

"This challenging and surprising film is at once a portrait of Khaled, who in 1969 made history by becoming the first woman to hijack an airplane, and an exploration of the filmmaker's understanding of her Palestinian identity," CPFF said.

Special guest HAMID DABASHI, Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, will deliver a keynote address immediately after the screening.

Professor Dabashi is the founder of Dreams of a Nation, a Palestinian Film Project, dedicated to preserving and safeguarding Palestinian Cinema. CPFF mentioned that discussions with experts, artists and special guests would take place in the festival.

S.A.S. (12:57 P) (10:57 GMT)