PARIS -- Franco-American relations certainly are not what they once were, but no one seems to have told that to organizers of the Deauville Festival of American Film. Aside from marking its 30th edition, which kicks off Friday and runs through Sept. 12, this year's festival coincides with the 60th anniversary of D-Day.

It seems appropriate, then, that the event takes place along the Normandy coast, where U.S.-led forces began their historic push through Europe during World War II.

Six decades later, Deauville marks a spot on the film-world map that has become crucial to American independent filmmakers mounting campaigns of a different sort: generating European buzz for films that otherwise might go unnoticed. The festival's competition section, which pits 10 independent U.S. films against one another, is widely credited with raising the Deauville event to its current high profile.

The contest aspect "has helped the festival to evolve into an effective European launchpad for offbeat American |cinema," notes Ruda Dauphin, Deauville's New York-based U.S. festival director.

Starting in 1975 as a friendly, noncompetitive showcase for U.S. studio fare, Deauville depended on attracting Hollywood's best and brightest names to help promote big-budget films ahead of their fall releases in France and Europe; tributes to prominent filmmakers, producers and actors helped to lure even more stars to the event. But Deauville organizers admit that after two decades, they found it harder to produce fresh "living legends" to honor -- and the glitzy event began to run out of steam.

Lionel Chouchan and Andre Halimi, the festival's directors and co-founders, say the idea of introducing a competition section was raised then but shot down by the major studios, who had made Deauville possible in the first place with their support.

"The majors were dead against a competition when we (introduced) the idea, preferring a quieter, more peaceful event where producers, directors and the stars could meet the world press without any of the tensions associated with other festivals," Chouchan says.

When the competition section was introduced in 1995, Chouchan believes that it quickly lent an edge to a festival once perceived as little more than an extended promotional event for Hollywood fare.

"Over the years, independent films made up two-thirds of our lineup, but certain sections of the French press continued to attack us for being devoted only to the majors," he says. "They were wrong, but the adverse publicity worked against us, and we finally decided to introduce a competition for independent cinema. We're happy to say this changed the festival's image."

Adds Halimi: "When we first started, we had doubts that we would find 10 films to fill the competition slots. Now, the Americans come to us."

Aside from elevating the level of excitement during the 10-day event, films in competition benefit from the informal market that operates during the festival. American producers seek inroads into the French market through local distribution executives, many of whom descend on Deauville to sample the latest U.S. fare.

"Screening at Sundance or Toronto is not enough to promote an American film in France," says Cyril Burkel of Metropolitan Filmexport, which has distributed numerous films that first screened at Deauville, including 2000's "Boiler Room" and 1995's "Search and Destroy." Burkel adds that Deauville's timing is perfect for distributors looking to release art house films during the fall season, between September and December.

"The competition section has reflected the growth of U.S. independent cinema over the last decade," he says.

From a marketing standpoint, landing a competition slot at Deauville is an effective way of attracting valuable press attention in France, according to Dauphin. "Screening in competition at Deauville does not automatically guarantee a film's success in France or even that it will necessarily be picked up by a French distributor, but the media buzz around the film definitely helps," adds Jean Labadie, whose Bac Films has distributed films which screened in competition at Deauville, including Todd Field's "In the Bedroom," Henry Bromell's "Panic" and the Polish Brothers' "Twin Falls Idaho."

Director-writer Jonathan Nossiter, whose "Sunday" won Deauville's Grand Prize and Critics Prize in 1997, after taking the Grand Jury Prize and a screenwriting award at Sundance, says the French honors "gave the film a fantastic kickoff in France," helping the film's boxoffice "immeasurably." The helmer, who will bring his wine documentary "Mondovino" to Deauville, adds: "The nice thing about being in competition is that it stimulates a gambler's interest in a film which might otherwise not be seen at all" in a certain territory. Being in competition boosts a film's profile -- competitions are not about winning or losing, but are absolutely essential for independent filmmakers from any country."

Peter Newman, who produced Wayne Wang's "Smoke," scripted by Paul Auster, and starring William Hurt, says the film about a Brooklyn smoke shop did ticket sales of more than 1 million in France, second only to the United States.

"The fact that Hurt and Auster made the trip to Deauville made all the difference," he says.

But Newman, who is the producer's representative for A. Dean Bell's "What Alice Found," is still seeking a French distributor for the grim tale of a girl drawn into truck-stop prostitution. Winning the top prize at Deauville last year hasn't helped -- yet.

This year's crop of competition films illustrates the trend that more and more big-name actors are gravitating to roles in indie films. Two films starring Kevin Bacon will compete this year: "The Woodsman," and "Loverboy," which he also directs. Other big names in competition include Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, who star in Focus Features' "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," and Glenn Close, in the Merchant-Ivory-produced "Heights."

David Gordon Green, whose third film, "Undertow," will have its world premiere in Deauville, believes that being in competition will raise the film's European profile, and help build an international audience.

"Being in competition at Deauville always helps auteur films like 'Undertow' in France," says Manuel Chiche of Wild Side, the film's French distributor.

Deauville's organizers, who set the festival's dates when the Venice fest temporarily had ceased to exist, have tried to turn the fact that it coincides with the high-powered Italian event into an advantage.

"It's easy for stars and studio execs to make the hop from Venice to Deauville, taking advantage of a single trip across the Atlantic," Dauphin says.

Steven Spielberg, whose DreamWorks release "The Terminal" opens in Venice, is set to be among those making the hop to Deauville, where the festival will honor 30 years of the director's contribution to cinema. Deauville also will pay tribute to producers Richard D. Zanuck and Christine Vachon, filmmakers George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, Marlon Brando and Close.

Deauville still has the cachet to attract A-list talent, but Chouchan believes that it is nonetheless the competition that keeps the festival vital. As for the event's unabashed support of Americans, he wouldn't have it any other way.

"We like to believe that the Deauville competition has helped raise the quality of films we receive in France from young independent American filmmakers," Chouchan says. "I always get a kick from the fact that an 'anti-American' nation like France hosts the world's only all-American film festival outside the (United States)."