That's the mandate. The movies themselves range from the dreamy elegiac experimentalism of "Dezember 1-31," which depicts filmmaker Jan Peters' attempt to cope with a friend's suicide, to the down-and-dirty underwater short "Rape of the Arthurpods," with everything possible in between. According to BAM's executive producer Joseph V. Melillo, "I wanted [Halter] to exhibit the edgiest, most topical, most creative films he could find from the new reservoir of filmmakers in Europe." If there are any other themes uniting the festival, they might be a pervasive fascination with technology (six of the features were shot on digital video) and an almost morbid obsession with the American invasion of European culture.

Are they expecting any controversy of, well, the mayoral kind? Understandably, it's on Melillo's mind: "BAM is opposed to censorship of any kind.... We will continue to present the type of adventurous, risk-taking programming that BAM is known for, be it on the mainstage or with films such as those shown in the XENO International Film Festival." The festival's best movie is perhaps Ian Kerkhof's "Shabondama Elegy," a story of the sexual degradations suffered by a Japanese prostitute which makes "In the Realm of the Senses" look like cable TV. Asked if he thinks Giuliani will single this one out for special attention, Halter says: "He's got two tickets in the front row if he wants them, but thanks, we already have a publicist."