Filmgoers await major Berlin film festival in anticipation

The 68th Berlinale runs from February 15-25. Roughly 400 films are shown in various sections. The International Jury is headed by German director Tom Tykwer.

Workers prepare for the 68th Berlinale set to begin on February 15, 2017.
Reuters

Workers prepare for the 68th Berlinale set to begin on February 15, 2017.

The 68th Berlinale, Europe's first major film festival of the year, opens Thursday with 24 new movies from around the world screening in the main showcase.

Nineteen pictures will vie for the Golden and Silver Bear prizes at the 11-day event, with a jury led by German director Tom Tykwer ("Run Lola Run", "Babylon Berlin").

Twenty-two of the 24 features in the main showcase are world premieres and two are directors' feature debuts. Four of the movies in competition are by women.

The Berlinale Special sidebar section features other notable films that will have gala screenings.

Here is the complete list including details on the high-profile productions:

Main showcase

"3 Days in Quiberon", Emily Atef, Germany/Austria/France (about Franco-German screen siren Romy Schneider's last interview before her tragic death aged 45)

"7 Days in Entebbe", Jose Padilha, winner of the 2008 Golden Bear top prize, and starring Rosamund Pike and Daniel Bruehl, US/Britain (based on the true story of the daring Israeli rescue mission following 1976 PLO hijacking of an Air France jet, out of competition)

"Aga", Milko Lazarov, Bulgaria/Germany/France (out of competition)

"Ang Panahon ng Halimaw" (Season of the Devil), Lav Diaz, Philippines

"Black 47", Lance Daly and starring Hugo Weaving, Jim Broadbent and Stephen Rea, Ireland/Luxembourg (period thriller set during Ireland's Great Famine, out of competition)

"Damsel", David and Nathan Zellner and starring Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikowska, US (comic Western with a feminist twist)

"Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot", Gus Van Sant and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara and Jonah Hill, US (based on the memoir by John Callahan, who became a cartoonist after losing the use of his limbs in a drink driving crash)

"Dovlatov", Alexey German Jr., Russia/Poland/Serbia

"Eldorado", Markus Imhoof,Switzerland/Germany, (documentary on how various countries treat refugees, out of competition)

"Eva", Benoit Jacquot and starring Isabelle Huppert, France/Belgium (Huppert plays a femme fatale in a thriller adaptation of a 1945 novel)

"Figlia Mia" (Daughter of Mine), Laura Bispuri, Italy/Germany/Switzerland

"Las Herederas" (The Heiresses), Marcelo Martinessi,Paraguay/Germany/Uruguay/Norway/ Brazil/France (debut film)

"In den Gaengen" (In the Aisles), Thomas Stuber and starring Sandra Hueller of "Toni Erdmann", Germany

"Isle of Dogs", animated feature by Wes Anderson and voiced by stars including Bryan Cranston, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Greta Gerwig and Liev Schreiber, Britain/Germany (opening film)

"Khook" (The Pig), Mani Haghighi, Iran

"Mein Bruder heisst Robert und ist ein Idiot" (My Brother's Name Is Robert and He Is an Idiot), Philip Groening, Germany/France/Switzerland

"Museum", Alonso Ruizpalacios and starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Mexico (heist movie based on the real-life theft of priceless ancient artifacts)

"La Priere" (The Prayer), Cedric Kahn, France

"Toppen av ingenting" (The Real Estate), Mans Mansson and Axel Petersen, Sweden/Britain

"Touch Me Not", Adina Pintilie,Romania/Germany/Czech Republic/ Bulgaria/France (debut film)

"Transit", Christian Petzold, Germany/France

"Twarz" (Mug), Malgorzata Szumowska, Poland

"Unsane", Steven Soderbergh and starring Claire Foy of "The Crown", US (psychological thriller about digital stalking filmed on an iPhone, out of competition)

"Utoya 22. juli" (U - July 22), Erik Poppe, Norway (drama based on the massacre committed by Anders Behring Breivik, told from the perspective of the 77 victims)

Berlinale Special

"AMERICA Land of the FreeKS", Ulli Lommel, Germany

"The Bookshop", Isabel Coixet and starring Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson and Bill Nighy, Spain/Britain/Germany

"Gurrumul", Paul Williams, Australia (documentary about the late Aboriginal musician)

"The Happy Prince", Rupert Everett and starring Everett, Colin Firth and Emily Watson, Germany/Belgium/Italy (Oscar Wilde biopic)

"The Interpreter", Martin Sulik, Slovakia/Czech Republic/Austria

"Monster Hunt 2", Raman Hui, China

"RYUICHI SAKAMOTO: async AT THE PARK AVENUE ARMORY", Stephen Nomura Schible, US/Japan (concert film)

"Das schweigende Klassenzimmer" (The Silent Revolution), Lars Kraume, Germany

"Songwriter", Murray Cummings, Britain (documentary about British pop superstar Ed Sheeran)

"Unga Astrid" (Becoming Astrid), Pernille Fischer Christensen, Sweden/Germany/Denmark (biopic about Pippi Longstocking author Astrid Lindgren)

"Usedom - Der freie Blick aufs Meer", Heinz Brinkmann, Germany

"Viaje a los Pueblos Fumigados" (A Journey to the Fumigated Towns), Fernando Solanas, Argentina


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