Berlin On Cruise Control

FEBRUARY 5: Hollywood stars will hog the headlines but art house and world cinema will also be competing for the limelight when the 50th Berlin Film Festival opens in the German capital on Wednesday. New movies featuring Tom Cruise, Al Pacino and Leonardo DiCaprio are in competition for the Golden Bear award but will find themselves up against offerings from China8217;s Zhang Yimou, France8217;s Claude Miller, Germany8217;s Volker Schloendorff and less well-known film makers from countries such as Macedonia and Turkey.

The full list of films in competition is: Magnolia by Paul Thomas Anderson US, the man who made Boogie Nights, with Tom Cruise as a sex guru and Julianne Moore and Jason Robards; there8217;s also the controversial The Beach by Danny Boyle US, with Leonardo DiCaprio; Mayis Sikintisi Clouds of May by Nuri B. Ceylan Turkey; Man on the Moon by Milos Forman US, with Jim Carrey playing the acerbic comic Andy Kaufman and Danny De Vito; Prime Luci Dell8217;alba First Lights of Dawn by Lucio Gaudino Italy;The Hurricane by Norman Jewison US, with Denzel Washington as a wrongly-accused man; You Shi Tiaowu The Island Tales by Stanley Kwan China; Love Me by Laetitia Masson France; La Chambre des Magiciennes The Room of the Magicians by Claude Miller France; The Talented Mr Ripley by Anthony Minghella US, with the very talented Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow; Signs and Wonders by Jonathan Nossiter US; Dokuritsu Gasshoudan The Boys8217; Choir by Akira Ogata Japan; Gouttes d8217;eau Sur Pierres Brulantes Raining Drops on Burning Rocks by Francois Ozon France; Russkij Bunt The Captain8217;s Daughter by Aleksandr Proschkin Russia; Nebeska Udica Sky Hook by Ljubija Samardzi FYR of Macedonia; Die Stille Nach Dem Schuss Rita8217;s Legends by Volker Schloendorff Germany; Any Given Sunday by Oliver Stone US; Paradiso 8212; Sieben Tage mit Sieben Frauen Paradiso Seven Days with Seven Women by Rudolf Thome Germany; El Mar The Sea by Agusti Villaronga Spain; The Million Dollar Hotel by Wim WendersUS; and Wo De Fu Qin Mu Qin The Road Home by Zhang Yimou China. The festival runs until February 20.