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Guantanamo in spotlight at Berlin film festival

Posted on: Monday, 30 January 2006, 10:44 CST

By Iain Rogers

BERLIN (Reuters) - The prison camp at Guantanamo Bay will be thrust into the spotlight at the Berlin Film Festival this year, with Michael Winterbottom's feature about the base among the main competition entries.

Festival director Dieter Kosslick said on Monday the film made "a statement in favor of human rights," and underlined how directors worldwide were increasingly tackling difficult issues in their work.

"At the moment we have a global trend of very political cinema, so I think it's great that the Berlinale fits with this," Kosslick told the launch of the full lineup of the February 9 to February 19 festival.

British director Winterbottom's "The Road to Guantanamo" tells the story of three Britons captured in Afghanistan and detained for two years at the camp.

Known as the "Tipton Three," after their home town in central England, they accused U.S. soldiers of subjecting them to physical and mental abuse while they were being held.

Winterbottom will be hoping to match his recent success in Berlin. He won top honors in 2003 with "In This World," which tells the story of two Afghan refugees who try to escape to Britain.

Other politically themed films include "Syriana," starring George Clooney and casting a critical eye on the dealings of big firms in the Middle East, which is part of the Berlin lineup but not in the main competition for the coveted Golden Bear award.

The film has already been released in the United States.

Also in Berlin will be the world premiere of "V for Vendetta," written by the Wachowski brothers of "The Matrix" fame, which stars Natalie Portman in a film about a masked vigilante striking out against a totalitarian state.

HOLLYWOOD LINEUP

Based on the films at this year's event, joining Clooney and Portman on the red carpet could be Oscar contenders Heath Ledger, praised for his portrayal of a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain," and Philip Seymour Hoffman for "Capote."

Berlin, one of the three top European film festivals with Cannes and Venice, is ideally placed as a launchpad for Oscar glory, coming as it does shortly before Hollywood's big night.

In Berlin, Ledger plays a drug addict in the world premiere of "Candy," while Sigourney Weaver portrays an autistic woman in "Snow Cake," which opens the festival.

Kosslick said British actor Ian McKellen, who played Gandalf in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and Polish director Andrzej Wajda, would be honored with life-time achievement awards.

The festival includes a retrospective entitled: "Dream Women. Stars in films of the 1950s." It comprises 43 movies showcasing 33 actresses from the United States, Europe and Japan including Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe.

A record 18,000 people from the film industry, as well as almost 3,800 journalists and 520 young filmmakers, are expected to attend the 56th Berlinale. The cost of the event is around 16 million euros.

Source: REUTERS

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