Berlin International Film Festival

02/06/2009

'The International' Opens Berlin Filmfest

Clive Owen Sets Hearts Throbbing at Berlinale

The Berlin International Film Festival kicked off on Thursday evening with the world premiere of the banking thriller "The International." Leading man Clive Owen was in Berlin to lend glamour to the opening.

British heartthrob Clive Owen lent a little glamour to the opening night of the Berlin International Film Festival on Thursday night. Eager fans clamored for his autograph, while one hopeful admirer even held up a large sign with her telephone number and the inscription "Call me."

Owen is the star of "The International," which had its world premiere as the opening film of this year's festival on Thursday evening. Directed by German filmmaker Tom Tykwer, best-known for his 1998 movie "Run Lola Run," the movie, which is showing out of competition, is a fast-paced thriller about a corrupt bank. Co-star Naomi Watts, who gave birth to her second child in December, was not at the premiere.

Speaking at a news conference earlier, director Tykwer said it was a coincidence that the film was being released at the time of a global financial crisis. He said he liked the idea "of the bank representing the villain in a paranoia thriller genre movie."

"The International" is just one of several films at this year's Berlinale dealing with the themes of globalization. Also showing this year are Michael Winterbottom's adaptation of the Naomi Klein anti-globalization book "The Shock Doctrine," a documentary about the anti-corporate pranksters The Yes Men, entitled "The Yes Men Fix the World," and Robert Kenner's "Food, Inc." which takes a critical look at the global food industry.

As in previous years, food is another theme running through this year's Berlinale, with a whole section of the festival devoted to "Culinary Cinema." As well as "Food, Inc." gourmands can enjoy "Terra Madre," a documentary about the Slow Food movement, and the Spanish food-related comedy "Dieta Mediterránea," among other gastronomic movie delights. Chef Alice Waters, famous for revolutionizing Californian cooking in the 1970s, is one of the festival's jury members this year.

Other international stars expected on the Berlinale's red carpet this year include Kate Winslet, Renée Zellweger, Keanu Reeves, Demi Moore, Ralph Fiennes, Steve Martin and Michelle Pfeiffer. Winslet's new movie "The Reader," in which she plays an illiterate former Nazi concentration camp guard, is one of the festival's most anticipated films.

dgs -- with wire reports

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