<b>With almost 400 films and countless other events accompanying this yearâs Berlinale, choosing what to see can be a daunting task. Fortunately, The Local has sifted out a sampling of the festivalâs most interesting offerings.</b>
<b>Over the years the Berlin Film Festival has been a child of the Cold War, a propaganda tool for the Allies, and a frequent political battleground that reached far beyond cinema seats, writes AFP's Deborah Cole.</b>
The Berlinale international jury, led this year by German director Werner Herzog, decides who leaves the film festival with the Golden Bear, Silver Bears and the Alfred Bauer Prize in the competition. Meet the members, who are often as quirky as the films they choose to honour.
Asian movies will take pride of place this week at the 60th Berlin Film Festival. But as AFP's Deborah Cole reports, new pictures by Roman Polanski and Martin Scorsese will also make their red-carpet premieres.
Indie cinemas are a dying breed the world over... except in Berlin, home to nearly 60 small arthouse and neighbourhood venues. The fight for survival is brutal. But as Exberliner magazine's <b>Alice Harrison</b> reports, some of them are even getting the red carpet treatment at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Berlin-born Hollywood legend Marlene Dietrich will be immortalised on the streets of her home city on a new "Walk of Fame" to be unveiled during the Berlin film festival this week, promoters said Saturday.
Loud, proud and fiercely independent, Bavaria is Germanyâs Texas. But are laptops starting to beat out lederhosen? Lois Jones takes the former kingdomâs temperature.
Germans aren't known for being particularly shy about bare skin, so it's only fitting a new exhibition in Hamburg is highlighting 150 years of nude photography - from blushing Victorians to Marilyn Monroe.
The star-studded 60th Berlin Film Festival starting next week will go back to its roots bridging East and West, organisers said Monday, this time uniting hot Hollywood fare with fresh Asian releases.
Cologne city officials are trying to determine the origins of a new romantic phenomenon dubbed âlove locksâ on a bridge stretching across the Rhine River.
For the first time ever in Europe, US artist Walton Fordâs vivid, sometimes pornographically violent animal paintings are on display in Berlin at an exhibition.
This month <b>Exberliner</b>, Berlin's leading English-language magazine, hits the catwalk for Fashion Week, uncovers the art of being tacky and helps you brush up your German skills.
New movies starring Ben Stiller, Julianne Moore, Gerard Depardieu, Jessica Alba and James Franco will headline the 60th Berlin film festival next month, organisers said this week.
Long known as Germany's gritty industrial heartland, the Ruhr Valley is hoping to show a different side as one of Europe's cultural capitals this year. The Local takes a look at some of the highlights of RUHR.2010.
<b>Wallywoods, a seminal gallery for Berlinâs avant-garde art scene, is locked in a Stalingrad-esque struggle for survival with intractable municipal officials. Ben Knight slips behind the lines to talk with its curator of chaos.</b>
After three years of preparations, Germanyâs industrial Ruhr Valley will kick off its year as a European Capital of Culture this weekend with elaborate celebrations aiming to withstand a looming winter storm.
The 2010 Berlinale film festival will premiere the latest film by director Roman Polanski, who is under house arrest in Switzerland awaiting deportation to the United States on unlawful sex charges.
A mobile opera house that can be pulled apart and fit into a shipping container was unveiled Monday by the Bavarian State Opera, which expects its new creation to travel Germany and the world to showcase experimental performances.
âColinâ is the title and hero of the new sleeper-hit zombie movie playing at this year's <a href="http://www.britspotting.de">Britspotting</a> film festival. Made for a reported ÂŁ45 (âŹ50) in a lot of people's spare time, it caused enough of a stir in Cannes to get a British cinema release. <b>Ben Knight</b> meets Colin himself, <b>Alastair Kirton</b>.
Avant-garde Irish filmmaker <b>Vivienne Dick</b> is one of the special guests at this year's <a href="http://www.britspotting.de">Britspotting</a> film festival in Berlin. <b>Ben Knight</b> speaks to the veteran of the halcyon frisson of 1970's New York and economic downturn and creativity.
The German capital has changed dramatically in the 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. <b>Julia Lipkins</b> reports on a festival bringing together artists and urban planners this weekend hoping to share their visions for the cityâs future.
The latest album from German industrial band Rammstein has been banned from sale to minors for sexually charged lyrics and artwork allegedly inciting sadomasochistic violence.
