Canadian co-pro to open Berlin festival

The Berlin International Film Festival has completed its competition lineup of 23 feature films, with Canadian-British co-production Snow Cake as the opening film.

Sidney Lumet's courtroom drama Find Me Guilty and Jafar Panahi's Offside, about an Iranian girl who disguises herself as a boy, are among the premieres added to the final list released this week.

The 56th Berlinale runs Feb. 9 to 19 in Berlin, and will pull in both Hollywood and European stars. One of the top three film festivals in Europe, it is the first opportunity of the year to showcase new productions.

At total of 400 films will be screened in the main competition and various side competitions. Only the closing night film has yet to be announced.

Snow Cake, directed by Mark Evans, stars Sigourney Weaver as an autistic woman who strikes up an unusual friendship with a man. Weaver and co-star Alan Rickman are both expected to attend.

Find Me Guilty stars Vin Diesel as a mobster who defends himself in a two-year trial. Lumet, 81, has made more than 40 films.

Among the other venerable directors screening their work is Robert Altman, whose A Prairie Home Companion, an ensemble piece based on the Garrison Keillor radio show, is to premiere in Berlin. It stars Meryl Streep, Woody Harrelson and Kevin Kline.

George Clooney's Syriana and Terrence Malick's The New World will screen out of competition.

Claude Chabrol's political thriller L'ivresse du pouvoir (Comedy of Power) stars Isabelle Huppert as a magistrate investigating the director of a large group of companies. British director Michael Winterbottom is entering his film,The Road to Guantanamo, which traces the story of three British Muslims held at the prison camp.

Among the German films premiering are The Elementary Particles, directed byOskar Roehler, and The Free Will, about a man coming out of prison after serving 12 years for rape. There are also entries from Argentina, Bosnia, Denmark,Hong Kong, Australia and Thailand.

War, prostitution, drugs, corruption, child abuse and suppression are among the tough topics in films this year, according to festival director Dieter Kosslick.

"We don't have any formal motto this year," Kosslick told Reuters. "We have many films that show a tough world the way it really is."

The jury to determine the winner ofthe Golden Bear, the prize given for the top feature, will be led by actress Charlotte Rampling. There is also a competition for short films, including one Canadian entry, Head Shot by Dennis Heaton.

"There was more interest in the Berlinale this year than at any time in its history," Kosslick said, noting the European Film Market, where buyers and sellers from around the world gather, has shown a 45-per-cent increase this year with 254 companies attending.