Clooney to attend Berlin Fest

2006-01-31 15:58

Berlin - George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Heath Ledger are among the stars expected to grace the red carpet at next month's Berlinale, the first major European film festival of the year, organisers said on Monday.

Festival director Dieter Kosslick said the 56th Berlinale, running February 9-19, would blend silver-screen glamour with an unflinching look at issues ranging from the United States prison camp at Guantanamo Bay to women's rights in Iran.

"The films this year are very political and realistic across the board," Kosslick said.

Big names in Hollywood to attend

Clooney, a frequent Berlinale guest, will be coming to promote Syriana, a thriller on the global oil industry in which he stars as a CIA operative.

Ledger, who is widely expected to win an Oscar nomination for his turn as a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, will appear as a drug addict in Candy, one of the films in competition for the Golden Bear top prize.

US veteran Robert Altman will be premiering A Prairie Home Companion about the wildly popular American radio show. Its ensemble cast includes Streep, Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline and Lily Tomlin.

Altman is just one of international cinema's old masters in the running for the Golden Bear.

France's Claude Chabrol will submit Comedy of Power, a thriller on the Elf oil scandal starring Isabelle Huppert while Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men) will present Find Me Guilty, a drama based on the longest mafia trial in US history and featuring action star Vin Diesel.

"It's like seeing (Arnold) Schwarzenegger teach at Harvard," Kosslick quipped about Diesel's unexpected shift to serious drama. "He's a very, very good actor."

Giving Western audience insight

British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom, who took home the Golden Bear in 2003 for the refugee drama In This World, will screen The Road to Guantanamo about three Muslims held at the US lockup in Cuba.

The competition will also showcase Iranian cinema for the first time in 30 years.

It's Winter by Rafi Pitts presents a harrowing look at working and living conditions on the outskirts of Tehran.

And Jafar Panahi's Offside, tells the story of a girl who dresses as a boy to sneak into a soccer match at Tehran's Azadi Stadium.

Kosslick said he had handpicked the Iranian selections on a visit to Tehran last year and that they were intended to give Western audiences a glimpse at a country that is constantly in the news and yet feels out of reach.

The first Thai film in the competition in 46 years, Ratanaruang Pen-ek's psychological thriller Invisible Waves about a contract killer, will have its world premiere in Berlin.

The Berlin Film Festival, which ranks with Cannes and Venice among the top European festivals, will feature 360 pictures and welcome about 18 000 accredited guests including 3 800 journalists.

- AFP