With 16 world
premieres, the main competition program of the 51st Berlin International Film
Festival is complete. Twenty-four feature films and 11 short films will compete
for the prestigious Golden and Silver Bears, awarded by a jury of nine members
chaired by the American producer Bill Mechanic. With
the increasing number of co-production or international distribution deals,
the legal nationality of films has become less relevant to the critical observer,
than the cultural origin that inspired its making. The Festival will take place
from February 7 to 18 in its new location at Potsdamer Platz, inaugurated last
year for the 50th anniversary edition. Many stars are expected to be present
in Berlin for the occasion and some 14,000 guests from more than 100 countries
are expected to attend the event that will be, for the last time, directed by
Moritz de Hadeln.

 

From Asia

Beijing Bicycles by Wang Xiao-shuai ( China) with Zhou Xun, Cui Lin and
Li Bin

Betelnut Beauty by Ling Chin-sen (Taiwan, China) with Chang Chen, Sinje,
and Leon Dai

Cloe by Go Riju (Japan) with Masatoshi Nagase, Shinya Tsukamoto and Rie
Tomosaka

Inugami by Masato Harada (Japan) with Yuki Amami, Atsuro Watabe and Kazuhiro
Yamaji

Joint Security Area (JSA) by Park Chan-Wook (South Korea) with Song Kang-ho,
Lee Byung-heon, Lee Young-ae and Kim Tae-woo

From South
America and Africa

La Cienaga by Lucrecia Martel (Argentina) with Graciela Borges, Mercedes
Morán and Martin Adjemian

Little Senegal by Rachid Bouchareb (Algeria/Senegal) with Sotigui Kouyate,
Roschdy Zem and Sharon Hope

 

From France

A ma soeur by Catherine Breillat with Anais Reboux, Roxane Mesquida,
Librero de Rienzo and Arsinée Khanjian

Felix et Lola by Patrice Leconte with Charlotte Gainsbourg, Philippe
Torreton and Alain Bashung

Intimacy by Patrice Chéreau with Mark Rylance, Kerry Fox, Timothy Spall,
Marianne Faithfull and Phillipe Calvario, (entirely shot in England)

 

From Italy

Le Fate Ignoranti by Ferzan Ozpetek with Margherita Buy, Stefano Accorsi,
Serra Yilmaz and Andrea Renzi

Malena by Giuseppe Tornatore with Monica Bellucci, Giuseppe Sulfaro and
Luciano Federico

 

From Great
Britain and Ireland

Chocolat
by Lasse Hallström with Johnny Depp, Juliette Binoche, Alfred Molina, Judi Dench
and Lena Olin

The Claim by Michael Winterbottom with Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Nastassja
Kinski and Milla Jovovich

The Tailor of Panama by John Boorman with Pierce Brosnan, Geoffrey Rush,
Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Gleeson and Catherine McCormack

Wit by Mike Nichols with Emma Thompson, Christopher Lloyd, Eileen Atkins
and Harold Pinter

 

From Denmark, Spain and Poland , each with one film

Italian for Beginners by Lone Scherfig with Anders W. Berthelsen, Anette
Støvelbæk and Peter Gantzler (a new Dogma film, the first directed by a woman)

You're the One (Una historia de entonces) by José Luis Garci with Lydia
Bosch, Julia G. Caba, Juan Diego and Ana Fernandez

Weiser by Wojciech Marczewski with Marek Kondrat, Juliane Köhler, Krystyna
Janda and Zbigniew Zamachowski.

 

From Germany


Enemy at the Gates by Jean-Jacques Annaud with among others Joseph Fiennes,
Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins, Matthias Habich, Eva Mattes
and Sophie Rois (opening film, out of competition)

My Sweet Home by Filippos Tsitos with Harvey Friedman, Nadja Uhl, Mario
Mentrup and Monika Hansen

 

From the USA


Bamboozled by Spike Lee with Damon Wayans, Savion Glover and Jada Pinkett-Smith

Finding
Forrester by Gus Van Sant with Sean Connery, F. Murray Abraham, Robert
Brown and Anna Paquin

The Pledge by Sean Penn with Jack Nicholson, Sam Shepard, Robin Wright
Penn, Benicio del Toro, Mickey Rourke, Harry Dean Stanton and Helen Mirren

Traffic
by Steven Soderbergh with Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle, Catherine Zeta-Jones
and Benicio del Toro

 

Out of competition

Hannibal by Ridley Scott with Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Ray Liotta
and Gary Oldman

Quills
by Philip Kaufman with Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix, and Michael
Cain.

 

The competition
program will also include 11 short films. To be noted among them
the short films by Anja Breien (Norway), Wong Kar-wei (Hong Kong), Peter Kern
(Germany), all three known as feature film directors.

 

The program will
also include as a further attractions, out of competition, the world
premiere of two documentaries:

Stanley Kubrick - A Life in Pictures by Jan Harlan - a three part documentary
made by Kubrick's brother in law and his long time executive producer, screened
in Berlin in video, and including never before seen footage of Kubrick's family
life and work with the narration  by Tom Cruise.

Super 8 Stories by Emir Kusturica - a semi-documentary on his renown
music band.