Berlinale. Competition's complete.

Back in December, the Berlinale team unveiled eleven films that'll be screening in the Competition, either actually in the running for a Bear or two or just playing along. Today, with the announcement of another fifteen, the program is complete. Some of these are pretty wowable and sixteen in all are world premieres.

• Oh, my: The world premiere of Tsai Ming-liang's Tian bian yi duo yun (The Wayward Cloud).
• Aleksandr Sokurov's Solnze (The Sun), another world premiere.

• Though it's not competing, wow: Tickets, an episodic film by Ermanno Olmi, Abbas Kiarostami and Ken Loach.
• Yoji Yamada's Kakushi Ken-Oni no Tsume (The Hidden Blade).
• Hotel Rwanda had already been announced, but today we learn that Raoul Peck's Sometimes in April will be screening as well.
• Heights, Chris Terrio's directorial debut; not competing.
• Stefano Mordini's debut, Provincia Meccanica.
• Jacob Thuesen's feature debut, Anklaget (Accused).
• Alain Corneau's Les Mots Bleu (Words in Blue).
• Jacques Audiard's De Battre Mon Coeur s'est arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped).
• Hany Abu-Assad's Paradise Now.
• Mike Mills's Thumbsucker, premiering, of course, at Sundance.
• Two American films presumably selected as glamor magnets: Andy Tennant's Hitch (Will Smith'd better show) and Bill Condon's Kinsey.

First impressions: Once again, the emphasis is on Europe, particularly France; Asia is represented in the Competition only by Tsai Ming-liang, Gu Changwei and Yoji Yamada, which, of course, is powerful representation, but still. We might look to the Forum, then, which is hinting at a strong showing from China.

And that's fine; it frees up the Competition to give a shot of exposure to the Europeans, who aren't quite as fashionable at the moment, even though domestic audiences have been showing revived enthusiasm.

Posted by dwhudson at January 20, 2005 3:41 PM