Berlinale. Competition lineup, round 1.

"Six of the nine films selected so far will have their world premieres in Berlin," reads the press release, and the first low rumbles of anticipation I've been feeling for weeks are now much louder, much rumblier. These nine represent about a third of the Competition program for the 56th Berlin International Film Festival, February 9 through 19. Including those screening out of competition, there'll be 26 in all. But first, the nine:

• Oskar Roehler's Elementary Particles, an adaptation of Michel Houellebecq's novel. The cast includes Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Ulmen, Martina Gedeck, Franka Potente, Nina Hoss, Jasmin Tabatabai, Uwe Ochsenknecht and Corinna Harfouch. Rambunctious, uncompromising, Roehler seems a perfect match for Houellebecq.

• Hans-Christian Schmid's Requiem. Who knew there was so much exorcism going on in Germany in the 70s? At any rate, Schmid's journeyed far from 23 to Distant Lights, so my curiosity's piqued.

• Grbavica, a feature debut from Bosnian filmmaker Jasmila Zbanic set against "the turmoil following the war in the Balkans."

• Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Invisible Waves sees its world premiere in Berlin. Todd had a great entry on this one back in July at Twitch with lots o' behind-the-scenes snapshots.

• Chen Kaige's The Promise. Monkey Peaches has been tracking this one closely. Update: The BBC reports that it's the biggest opener ever in China.

• Neil Armfield's Candy is an Australian production starring Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish.

• Marc Evans's Snow Cake features Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver. World premiere.

• Screening out of competition: The New World and Syriana. These are better choices than the usual US fare selected for their glamor factor.

Posted by dwhudson at December 20, 2005 8:20 AM