LONDON Two Iranian films are receiving their UK premiers at this year's Edinburgh Film Festival, which opened Saturday, IRNA reported.

***Kandahar (Safar-e Ghandehar)****, marking the long awaited return to directing by Iranian master Mohsen Makhmalbaf, is being screened next Wednesday. The film charts a woman's perilous journey through Afghanistan to find her sister.

On Sunday, ****The Circle (Dayereh)**** by Ja'far Panahi who made the award-winning ***White Balloon****, is being shown. It follows the plight of seven women and is described as "radical cinema at its most vehement."

The two-week noncompetitive film festival is the 55th held in Edinburgh as part of the city's annual arts season, classed as the biggest and most comprehensive in Europe.