
Jake Gyllenhaal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Anton Corbijn Get Berlin Festival Jury Duty
The 62nd Berlin International Film Festival has set its first five competition films, and has selected the Stephen Daldry-directed Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close and the Zhang Yimou-directed The Flowers Of War to screen out of competition. The selected productions and co-productions are from Indonesia, Spain, the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong/China, the Philippines, Great Britain, Germany, the U.S. and France.
Here are the films so far:
Captive, France/Philippines/Germany/Great Britain. By Brillante Mendoza (Serbis, Kinatay, Lola.) With Isabelle Huppert, Katherine Mulville, Marc Zanetta. World premiere.
Dictado (Childish Games), Spain. By Antonio Chavarrías (Susanna, Volverás, Las vidas de Celia) With Juan Diego Botto, Barbara Lennie, Mágica Pérez. World premiere.
Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close, USA By Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours, The Reader) With Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max von Sydow, Thomas Horn International premiere / Out of Competition.
Jin líng Shí San Chai (The Flowers Of War), People’s Republic of China. By Zhang Yimou (The Red Lantern, Hero, A Woman, A Gun And A Noodle Shop) With Christian Bale, Ni Ni, Atsuro Watabe International premiere / Out of Competition.
Kebun binatang (Postcards From The Zoo), Indonesia/Germany/Hongkong, China. By Edwin (Kara, Anak Sebatang Pohon, The Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly) With Ladya Cheryl, Nicholas Saputra. World premiere.
Berlinale Special
Death Row: Documentary series in four parts, USA. By Werner Herzog (Fitzcarraldo, Cave Of Forgotten Dreams) World premiere.
Don: The King Is Back, India/Germany. By Farhan Akhtar (Dil Chahta Hai, Lakshya, Don) With Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Boman Irani, Om Puri, Florian Lukas. German premiere.
Keyhole, Canada. By Guy Maddin (My Winnipeg, The Saddest Music In The World, Brand Upon The Brain) With Jason Patric, Isabella Rossellini, Udo Kier, Brooke Palsson. International premiere.
La chispa de la vida, Spain. By Álex de la Iglesia (El día de la bestia, Perdita Durango, The Last Circus) With Salma Hayek, José Mota, Fernando Tejero, Blanca Portillo, Juan Luis Galiardo, International premiere.
Marley Documentary, Great Britain/USA. By Kevin Macdonald (The Last King Of Scotland, Life In A Day, Touching The Void,) World premiere.


sad commentary…when it comes to American films, you always have lots and lots of views…when it comes to foreign films, few film buffs care to comment…i wish in this country people were more in tune, and in love with foreign film…before a screening yesterday of ‘girl w. Dragon Tattoo’…i mentioned how much i loved the original series…and someone said “but with the subtitles its so difficult to watch film”…shame …and this was someone like myself a member of PGA…
It’s more sad that Flowers of War and Loud and Close or whatever are being given the headline even though Berlin will be like the 100th time each will be screened by February.
World premiere’s like the Macdonald & Herzog doc’s and the Mendoza/Huppert film should be the films being highlighted here.
True, but you can bet your $bottom the top names from both films will be out in force and that will give festival director Dieter Kosslick the red carpet photo ops he craves, as well as both films being new for Berlin and Germany anyway.
Yeah, especially since The Flowers of War is such a turkey. Reviews from China aren’t so glowing. It seems that some Chinese critics and audience goers have taken issue with the sexually-charged portrayal and marketing of this serious subject matter that is wartime atrocities.