The International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF) that kicked off in the capital on Friday is expected to avail an array of local and international films centred on women's issues.

The festival, which is running under the theme Transforming Women, will showcase more than 50 films in Harare this week before going to Bulawayo where it will run from December 3 to 5.

Event organisers Women Film Makers of Zimbabwe (WFOZ) said they were looking forward to a great festival.

Embassies and international cultural agents in the country will be presenting various films, especially from their countries of origin throughout the week.

Some of the outstanding events of the festival include a film made in the UK titled Carla's Song.

The feature film will be screened at The Mannenberg tomorrow and Saturday.

Directed by Ken Loach, the film is a story of a Glasgow bus driver who in 1997 meets an emotionally scarred Nicaraguan dancer and helps her confront her traumatic past and the war continuing in her homeland.

The film comes to IIFF courtesy of the British Council that will also host a discussion forum on myths and legends at the Book Café tomorrow evening.

BBC presenter, novelist and poet Owen Sheers will lead the discussion.

The UK-based writer is an expert in myths and legends and the discussion would centre on their origins and how they reappear in modern day story telling.

A local expert on the subjects, Joseph Tirivangana, will explore the theme from a Zimbabwean perspective while poets David Mungoshi, Ethel Kabwato and Batsirai Chingana will spice up the event with their readings.

The British Council announced that both Carla's Song and Sheers' show will be free of charge.

From the Zimbabwe German Society will be Yella, a film that has been described as a boardroom drama and supernatural thriller.

"Yella is all of these things and more, a slippery and haunting tale from writer and director Christian Petzold" said ZGS about the film.

"Yella (Nina Hoss) is an East German migrant who flees her unhinged ex-husband to pursue an accountancy job in Hanover.

"What she discovers is a ruthless world of sharks in suits led by venture capitalist Phillipp (Devid Striesow).

"Hounded by her past and suffering strange episodes of déjà vu, she's adrift in a world that's quite literally soulless."

There are only five local films at the festival that is showcasing films from 20 countries.

IIFF assistant programmes director Yvonne Jila said the festival was progressing well and an awards ceremony will be held in Avondale on Saturday.