Berlin Film Festival brings the Oscars to town (Feature)

By Andrew McCathie Feb 10, 2011, 0:01 GMT

Berlin - A remake of a sixties' western classic about a young girl's determination to avenge her father's murder kicks off the Berlin Film Festival on Thursday.

True Grit from Oscar-winning US directors Joel and Ethan Coen will also bring to Berlin the race for the Academy Awards, which are set down to be announced in Los Angeles later this month.

Starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin, True Grit has been nominated for 10 Oscars.

The last time the Coen Brothers were in Berlin for the film festival was about 13 years ago for their movie The Big Lebowski.

Held during Berlin's normally cold and bleak winter, the 10-day Berlinale brings a touch of glitz and glamour to the German capital.

Along with the stars from True Grit, pop icon Madonna, British actress Vanessa Redgrave, Hollywood star Kevin Spacey and Oscar-nominated US actress Gabourey Sidibe are expected in Berlin.

Also in town for the festival will be British actor Colin Firth, who has been nominated for an Oscar for best actor for his role as King George VI in the The King's Speech, about his battle to overcome a stammer.

The King's Speech, from London-born director Tom Hooper has been nominated for 12 Oscars. Neither the King's Speech nor True Grit have been included in the Berlinale's main competition.

Along with Social Network and True Grit, The King's Speech is considered a frontrunner for this year's Oscar awards.

A number of films screened in Berlin have in the past made it into the select group of movies nominated for an Oscar.

For the most part, however, the movies included in the Berlinale's main competition revolve around an edgy political or confronting social theme.

As a result, they tend to be a long way away from those that stand a realistic chance in the race for top honours at the Academy Awards.

Among the line-up of films to be screened is A Torinoi Lo from cult Hungarian director Bela Tarr, about the 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, and The Forgiveness of Blood from Joshua Marston, about two Albanian families embroiled in a vendetta.

Now in its 61st year, the festival in Berlin will screen about 400 films from 58 countries.

But the Berlinale is also facing increasing competition, with new festivals springing up in recent years in Rome, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dubai and Marrakesch, just as movie fests in Toronto and Sundance have been gaining more international status.

Headed by Italian-born actress Isabella Rossellini, the Berlinale's seven-member jury will have to choose from 16 movies for the Berlinale's top honours - the Golden Bear for best film.

But one member of the jury, Iranian director Jafar Panahi, appears unlikely to be in Berlin for the festival.

In December, Panahi was sentenced to six years imprisonment and banned from filmmaking for the next 20 years on charges of working against Iran's ruling system.

As a sign of solidarity with Panahi, the Berlinale is to screen several of his movies.

Four other Iranian films have been selected for this year's festival, including the international premiere of Asghar Farhadi's latest movie Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (Nader And Simin, A Separation).

Also among the movies in the main competition is Moscow-born director Alexander Mindadze's V Subbotu, about a group of people caught up in the aftermath of the 1986 meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor.

In addition the main competition includes Yelling To The Sky, from New York-born filmmaker Victoria Mahoney. It tells the story of a 17-year-old who is left to fend for herself after her family falls apart.

The movie stars Zoe Kravitz, the daughter of singer-songwriter Lenny Kravitz, and Gabourey Sidibe, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role as a sexually abused and illiterate 16-year-old in Precious.

Madonna is also expected in Berlin to present to movie industry representatives a three-minute grab of her latest movie W.E.

W.E. revolves around the scandal that engulfed the British monarchy in the wake of Edward VIII's love affair with Wallis Simpson.

Saranghanda, Saranghaji Anneunda (Come Rain Come Shine), from South Korean director Lee Yoon-ki, is the only Asian movie that has so far been included in the main competition.

A melodrama starring Lim Soo-jung and Hyan Bin, the movie is about a young couple attempting to conceal their feelings five years into their marriage.

Israeli director and actor Jonathan Sagall's drama Lipstikka is also to have its world premiere at the Berlinale.

The film tells the story of two women who meet and think back through the years to a life-changing event that occurred when they were teenagers in Jerusalem.

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