10/01/2006

The programme will not be closed before the end of January, but yesterday the organisers of the 56th Berlin International Film Festival announced more than half of the titles which will take part in the Panorama section - including the subsection Panorama Dokumente. The screenings are exclusively world and European premieres.

The section of the festival, which is oriented towards arthouse cinema from all over the world, this year presents eleven co-productions from the old continent; a menu in which internationally acclaimed directors get together with filmmakers who are still seeking their public. German Jan Henrik Stahlbergw is said to create controversy with the political satire Buonanotte Topolino (Bye Bye Berlusconi!); Irish director Neil Jordan is back with Breakfast On Pluto, where Cillian Murphy (28 Days) becomes a Cabaret singer in 70's UK, Swiss Stina Werenfels presents her first feature Nachbeben; while Christophe Ali and Nicolas Bonilauri will defend what is, so far, the only French title to screen in the Panorama, Camping sauvage, a love story between a 40 year old man and a 17 year old girl. The opening film is a co-production between Argentina, Italy, France and Spain, Derecho de familia, bringing back Daniel Burman, the 2004 Silver Bear winner with El abrazo partido. The Panorama Audience Awards will be announced on the last day of the festival.

List of the films announced so far:

Main Programa and Panorama Special:

Derecho de familia (Family Law) by Daniel Burman
Argentina, Italy, France, Spain

Buonanotte Topolino (Bye Bye Berlusconi!) by Jan Henrik Stahlberg
Germany

Der Kick (The Kick) by Andres Veiel
Germany

Komm näher (Happy As One) by Vanessa Jopp
Germany

Camping sauvage by Christophe Ali and Nicolas Bonilauri
France

Brothers Of The Head by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe
UK

The Proposition by John Hillcoat
UK / Australia

Breakfast On Pluto by Neil Jordan
Ireland, UK

Strákarnir okkar (Eleven Men Out) by Robert Douglas
Iceland, Finland, UK

Nachbeben by Stina Werenfels
Switzerland

Kan Shang Qu Hen Mei (Little Red Flowers) by Zhang Yuan
China, Italy

Casa de areia (The House Of Sand) by Andrucha Waddington
Brazil

Kaalpurush (Memories In The Mist) by Buddhadep Dasgupta
India

Be Ahestegi... (Gradually...) by Maziar Miri
Iran

Mechilot (Forgiveness) by Udi Aloni
Israel / USA

Shisso (Dead Run) by Sabu
Japan

Lie With Me by Clement Virgo
Canada

Heaven's Doors by Swel Noury, Imad Noury
Morroco

No.2 by Toa Fraser
New Zeland

4:30 by Royston Tan
Singapore, Japan

Stay by Marc Forster
USA

The Notorious Bettie Page by Mary Harron
USA

Panorama Dokumente

Paper Dolls by Tomer Heymann
Israel / Switzerland

Rampage by George Gittoes
Australia

Absolute Wilson by Katharina Otto-Bernstein
USA / Germany

Dave Chappelle's Block Party by Michel Gondry
USA

Leonard Cohen, I'm Your Man by Lian Lunson
USA

Lover Other: The Story Of Claude Cahun And Marcel Moore by Barbara Hammer
USA

WAL-MART: The High Cost Of Low Price by Robert Greenwald
USA