Now in its second year, the reject filmfest allows producers who have gotten the brush off from other film festivals a chance to show off their unloved and sometimes twisted work. In fact, proof of rejection from somewhere else is the sole entry criterion.

The festival opened yesterday. Reject-turned-cult-filmmaker John Waters is handing out the top prize -- a trophy of a crumpled movie-reel canister.

``Being scorned, hated, dismissed, and defiled for all the right reasons is an honour to any young filmmaker who wants to sharpen his edge and plot eventual cultural revenge,'' Waters told festival organisers.

Waters' reliance on gross-looking and grossly acted movies startled audiences to the point where ``rejects'' now call him their ``patron saint''.

The filmmakers hope to live up to the days when Waters brought forth such shock value film concepts asOdorama, the scratch-and-sniff technology he invented for his 1972 cult hit Pink Flamingos. His current film is Pecker, starring Edward Furlong and Christina Ricci.

The festival was founded last year when Philadelphia filmmakers D Mason Bendewald and Don Argott were denied entry into the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema. Rather than sulk, the two organized their own extravaganza for cutting-edge films and videos overlooked by other film festivals.

``We're not at all like the other film festivals, which have become shopping channels for big distributors,'' Argott said.

``We're looking to expose work no one would normally see. Rejection is the key thing here.''

Among the films he likes are A Fort Worth, Texas, Entry about a man and his frozen pet fish that talks and a London-based film about ``consumercide by financial suffocation''.

Awards are in the following categories: The People's Choice, Best Of The Fest, Innovative Filmmaking, and The Film We Didn't Want You ToSee.

For Philadelphia video clerk and filmmaker Vincent Mola, being rejected is now a source of pride. He's been well regarded at the festival for his film Superfan, a pseudo-documentary about an out-of-control Philadelphia Eagles fan.

``Opportunities like this ... I can't imagine it getting any better than this,'' he said.

But even among the rejects, there are rejects.

Of more than 200 applicants this year, only 37 films will be showcased during the three-day event. Said Argott: ``I now understand why they can't make it into any film festival.''