À l'Ouest de Pluton by Henry Bernadet and Myriam Verreault is a portrait of youth culture. (Festival du Nouveau Cinéma )

A movie from two Quebec City filmmakers is opening the competition section of the 2009 International Film Festival Rotterdam on Jan. 21.

À l'Ouest de Pluton (West of Pluto) is one of 14 films in the Tiger Competition of the 12-day festival.

Rotterdam has selected all first and second features by emerging directors for its competition lineup.

À l'Ouest de Pluton is the feature debut of Henry Bernadet and Myriam Verreault, co-founders of Vostok Films.

Shot in Quebec City, the film is an inside look at the youth scene through the lens of two friends and their unlikely Rat Pack of followers.

It follows the antics of 12 suburban teens, including Pierre-Olivier, who is sad that Pluto has lost its status as a planet, during a single day.

The film premiered at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma in Montreal last October and is making its world premiere in Rotterdam.

Bernadet and Verreault have previously made short films, and Bernadet's Prêt pas prêt was for nominated for the Gémeaux award for best children's television in 2007.

The official opening film of the Rotterdam festival is The Hungry Ghosts, by U.S. director Michael Imperioli, who played Christopher Moltisanti in the HBO series The Sopranos.

Films from Iran, Turkey, New Zealand and Chile are also on the lineup.

Other entries in the competition:

• Be Calm and Count to Seven, Ramtin Lavafipour (Iran).
• Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly, Edwin (Indonesia).
• Floating in Memory,Peng Tao (China).
• The Strength of Water, Armagan Ballantyne (New Zealand-Germany).
• Turistas, Alicia Scherson (Chile).
• Wrong Rosary, Mahmut Fazil Coskun (Turkey).

The festival runs Jan. 21-Feb. 1.