Berlinale adds to competish lineup

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118030422?refCatId=13&query=coriolanus

Berlinale adds to competish lineup

BERLIN -- "Margin Call," J.C. Chandor's debut film, starring Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Irons, and Jaume Collet-Serra's "Unknown," with Liam Neeson, are among the films unspooling in the main competition section at next month's Berlin Film Festival.
A total of 22 films are screening in the competition section, 16 of which will actually be competing for awards. Among the screeners are 16 world premieres.

"Margin Call," a thriller set in an investment bank during the early stages of the financial crisis, also stars Demi Moore, Paul Bettany and Zach Quinto, and will be having its international premiere in Berlin.

Screening out of competition, "Unknown," about a man who awakens from a coma only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one believes him, was largely shot in Berlin and other German locations and received some $6.2 million in local funding support.

Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn and Bruno Ganz also star.

Also selected are "The Forgiveness of Blood," by Joshua Marston ("Maria Full of Grace"); Michel Ocelot's French 3D animated film "Tales of the Night"; and "A Mysterious World" from Argentine director Rodrigo Moreno, whose "The Custodian" screened in Berlin in 2006.

Other contenders include Iranian drama "Nader and Simin, A Separation," by Asghar Farhadi ("About Elly") and "Sleeping Sickness," by German director Ulrich Koehler ("Windows on Monday").

Unspooling out of competition is "My Best Enemy," by Austrian helmer Wolfgang Murnberger (The Bone Man").

Among this year's additional special screenings are Wernor Herzog's 3D documentary "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" and Jafar Panahi's 2006 Silver Bear winner "Offside" -- showing as part of a series of events dedicated to the recently convicted Iranian filmmaker.

Meanwhile, Ralph Fiennes' modern take on Shakespeare's "Coriolanus," initially slotted as an out-of-competition screener, is now officially contending for the Golden Bear, a move the director has welcomed. "We were very happy to have been accepted and now to be in competition is very exciting," Fiennes told Daily Variety.

"Berlin was always the festival that we wanted to screen 'Coriolanus' in because the original play has quite a history and this prestigious festival in Germany just felt like a good place for it. … This film carries all kinds of social and political resonances that it demands that an audience reflect on the power play of politics, armies and loyalties."

The Berlinale, which runs Feb. 10-20, opens with the Coen brothers'

"True Grit."

(Diana Lodderhose in London contributed to this report)

In addition to the previously released selections, the Berlinale Competition lineup also includes:

"Almanya," Yasemin Samdereli (Germany), world premiere/out of competition

"Come Rain Come Shine," Lee Yoon-ki (South Korea), world premiere

"Innocent Saturday," Alexander Mindadze (Russia/Germany/Ukraine), world premiere

"The Prize," Paula Markovitch (Mexico/France/Poland/Germany), world premiere

"Service Entrance," Philippe Le Guay (France), international premiere/out of competition

"The Turin Horse," Bela Tarr (Hungary/France/Germany/Switzerland), world premiere

Contact Ed Meza at ed.meza@mannaa.de

From Hollywood Reporter:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/berlin-tones-hollywood-glitz-ups-72795

Berlin Tones Down Hollywood Glitz and Ups the Indie Grit for 2011 Edition

"Unknown," "Margin Call" and "The Forgiveness of Blood" among Berlin titles.

BERLIN -- Berlin is toning down the Hollywood glitz and upping the indie grit for its 2011 edition, with few mainstream titles but many intriguing art house features in the running for this year's Golden Bear.

Margin Call, a thriller from director JC Chandor starring Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Demi Moore and Jeremy Irons, will have its international premiere in competition in Berlin. The film is set in an investment bank during a 24-hour period at the start of the financial meltdown.

Joshua Marston, whose Oscar-nominated Columbian feature Maria Full of Grace won a Berlin Silver Bear in 2004, returns with the world premiere of The Forgiveness of Blood, a drama set in Albania.

Two of Germany's most influential filmmakers -- Wim Wenders and Werner Herzog -- will go head-to-head with non-fiction 3D projects in Berlin. Wenders' dance film Pina about the late choreographer Pina Bausch will screen out of competition while Herzog's 3D doc Cave of Forgotten Dreams will receive a special gala screening at the Berlinale Palast.

Another 3D entry is Tales Of The Night, the latest animated feature from famed French director Michel Ocelot (Kirikou and the Sorceress, Azur and Asmar ), which will be the first 3D film to screen in competition in Berlin.

The Coen Brothers' Western remake True Grit starring Jeff Bridges, will open the 61st Berlin International Film Festival Feb. 10. And Jaume Collet-Serra's thriller Unknown with Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones and Aidan Quinn will enjoy a gala, out of competition, screening in Berlin.

But you'd have to look long and hard for another multiplex-friendly title in Berlin's 2011 lineup.

Hotly anticipated is actor Ralph Fiennes' directorial debut, Coriolanus, starring Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Cox but an adaptation of one of Shakespeare's lesser-known plays hardly spells guaranteed box office.

Instead Berlin earns some independent cred with lower budget fare, such as Miranda July's The Future or Yelling To The Sky by Victoria Mahoney starring Zoe Kravitz, Precious' Gabourey Sidibe and Tim Blake Nelson.

Coriolanus and Lipstikka, a London and Jerusalem-set thriller from director Jonathan Sagall, are the sole British titles in Berlin competition this year and, shockingly, there are no Scandinavian films in the official lineup. Nordic films usually have pride of place in Berlin but this year, fans of Scandi cinema will have to go to Berlin's sidebar sections, particular the young and kids section Generations.

Even more scandalous, there is a single, solitary Asian film in Berlin competition this year: Come Rain Come Shine from Korean director Lee Yoon-ki (This Charming Girl).

Two German features are in competition this year: the terrorist drama If Not Us, Who, from documentary film maker Andres Veiel and Sleeping Sickness from director Ulrich Kohler. But as much, if not more attention may go to a pair of German language entries running out of competition: the crime drama My Best Enemy from Austria's Wolfgang Murnberger (The Bone Man) and Almanya, a debut feature from Yasemin Samdereli which looks at the hot button issues of immigration and integration in Germany.

Also certain to be seen through the political lens is Nader And Simin, A Separation from Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, whose About Elly won the best director Silver Bear in Berlin in 2009. Iranian cinema has received unwelcome attention from the Islamic regime in Tehran after directors Jafar Panahi and Muhammad Rasoulof were sentenced to six years in jail for making films without official government sanction.

In a show of solidarity, Berlin will screen several of Panahi's films during the festival, which runs Feb. 10-20.

The full line up for the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival follows.

Opening Film

True Grit, USA
Dir. Joel and Ethan Coen

In Competition

Almanya, Germany
Dir. Yasemin Samdereli

A Mysterious World, Argentina/Germany/Uruguay
Dir. Rodrigo Moreno

Come Rain Come Shine, Republic of Korea
Dir. Lee Yoon-ki

Coriolanus, Great Britain
Dir. Ralph Fiennes

Innocent Saturday, Russia/Germany/Ukraine
Dir. Alexander Mindadze

Lipstikka, Israel/Great Britain
Dir. Jonathan Sagall

Margin Call, USA
Dir. JC Chandor

My Best Enemy, Austria/Luxemburg
Dir. Wolfgang Murnberger

Nader And Simin, A Separation, Iran
Dir. Asghar Farhadi

Our Grand Despair, Turkey/Germany/Netherlands
Dir. Seyfi Teoman

Service Entrance, France
Dir. Philippe Le Guay

Sleeping Sickness, Germany/France/Netherlands
Dir. Ulrich Kohler

Tales Of The Night, France
Dir. Michel Ocelot

The Forgiveness Of Blood, USA
Dir. Joshua Marston

The Prize, Mexico/France/Poland/Germany
Dir. Paula Markovitch

The Turin Horse, Hungary/France/Germany/Switzerland
Dir. Bela Tarr

Out of Competition

Unknown, Germany/Great Britain/France
Dir. Jaume Collet-Serra

Pina, Germany/France
Dir. Wim Wenders

The Future, Germany/USA
Dir. Miranda July

If Not Us, Who, Germany
Dir. Andres Veiel

Yelling To The Sky, USA
Dir. Victoria Mahoney

Special Screenings

Cave Of Forgotten Dreams, USA
Dir. Werner Herzog

Offside, Iran
Dir. Jafar Panahi