Photo Gallery A Star for Berlin
The Star of Berlin: Angelina Jolie poses for photographers to promote her directorial debut, "In the Land of Blood and Honey."
Jolie's film is a harrowing portrait of conflict in the Balkans, replete with authentic performances from a Serbian cast (two of the stars, Zana Marjanovic and Ermin Sijamija, are seen in this still) and a Serbian script.
Director and actress Jolie is in town with her partner Brad Pitt and their entourage until the beginning of next week.
Freeze for the art of film: While Venice and Cannes boast picturesque canals or palm-lined beaches, Berlin film fans this week are being forced to content with February's typically cold northern German weather.
But the cold spell couldn't dampen the mood of the festival's cheerful director, Dieter Kosslich, whose fingerprint as director of the Berlin International Film Festival is the number of socially conscious films featured in this year's program.
And of course the number of German films. One of this year's picks is "Barbara," the story of a doctor trying to flee East Germany during the 1980s, by German director Christian Petzold.
"Home for the Weekend," a family drama by Hans-Christian Schmids (starring up-and-coming German actor Lars Eidinger, pictured here) has also been heavily hyped.
Potsdamer Platz, once a wasteland divided by the Berlin Wall, is the heart of the festival. Tens of thousands of visitors brave the winter winds in the square to reach the adjoining cinemas.
Final Touches: Berlinale staff on Wednesday rolled out the red carpet for the festival's opening gala.
Meanwhile, lucky film fans show off their tickets, which went on sale on Tuesday. The Berlinale, which caters largely to the public, is said to be the world's most audience-friendly festival.
Angelina Jolie is pictured here at work directing her new film, "In the Land of Blood and Honey," a tense thriller well-suited to the political edge found at Berlinale.
