09/02/2006

A splendid Charlotte Rampling will host the opening night ceremony night of the 56th edition of the Berlin Film Festival, which, according to festival director Dieter Kosslick, promises to be more “political” than ever: "This year, we are concentrating on the real problems of real people and less on the imagination with a selection of very political films of a realistic nature".

Rampling, president of the competition jury, and Kosslick will present the world premiere of the opening night film Snow Cake [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Marc Evans. German guests that will grace the red carpet tonight include Wim Wenders, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Franka Potente, Doris Dörrie, Senta Berger, Jürgen Vogel, Nina Hagen.

The festival will kick off fully tomorrow and some of the most eagerly anticipated competition films include A Prairie Home Companion by Robert Altman, Find Me Guilty by Sidney Lumet, The Road to Guantanamo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Michael Winterbottom and A Comedy of Power [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Claude Chabrol with Isabelle Huppert. Italy will compete for the Golden Bear with Michele Placido’s Crime Novel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michele Placido
film profile] and Roberto Benigni will be on-hand to present The Tiger and the Snow [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in the Berlinale Special section. As always in Berlin of special interest are the titles in the Panorama section: from Neil Jordan’s latest, Breakfast on Pluto [+see also:
trailer
film profile], to German satire Bye Bye Berlusconi by Jan Henrik Stahlberg.

Industry representatives will be drawn to the third edition of the Co-production Market (February 12-14) while, for the first time, an event named Country Tables (February 12-13) will focus on countries considered by the participants of this edition to be the most favourable nations with which to establish co-productions: France, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Sweden and the UK. Also invited are the heads of the respective state audiovisual funds and various MEDIA Desks in order to illustrate each country’s production landscape and various co-production possibilities.

(Translated from Italian)