OUTSIDE the main competition are the sidebars that offer a forum for movies that might offend the black-tie brigade. From Hungary, György Pálfi's Taxidermia spans three generations in one strange family and has something to offend just about everyone.

First there is a sexually frustrated wartime orderly with a penchant for burning his body parts with a candle. Thanks to inventive special effects, he shoots flames from his erection. His union with an obese woman produces an even more corpulent son who becomes a champion competitive eater and eventually explodes, to be devoured by huge cats. And his skeletal-framed son performs taxidermy on himself.

Pálfi, who made Hukkle, lets his imagination run riot in a movie with copious close-ups of entrails, human and animal, and several other situations that would put you off your breakfast.

The exuberant, no-sexual-hold-barred Shortbus is certain to encounter censorship problems, not least on its US home turf, although its approach to sex is so relaxed, candid and cheerful from the outset that we cease to be surprised by what it shows.

The second film from Hedwig and the Angry Inch director John Cameron Mitchell, Shortbus is set among the habitues of a Manhattan underground "salon", a hive of multi-sexual activity. As one observes, "It's just like the '60s, with less hope."

The key characters are a gay couple considering bringing a third man into their relationship, and their sex therapist who has not had an orgasm in all her years of marriage. There's also a lesbian who introduces herself as "Hi, I'm Bitch", and a dominatrix named Jennifer Aniston.

Made on a low budget with a cast of unknowns, Shortbus is frequently very funny, bubbles with enthusiasm and confidence, and culminates with the full cast singing We All Get It in the End.