Pierce Brosnan Berlin Film Fest star guest

[Blowfeld]

Berlin Film Fest lines up star guests
Banksy film 'Gift Shop' added to lineup
By ED MEZA

BERLIN -- Pierce Brosnan, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jackie Chan are among stars expected to tubthump their pics at the Berlin Film Festival, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

Fest topper Dieter Kosslick unveiled the main lineup on Monday, although most of the selections had already been announced.

The only addition to the main section was Sundance screener "Exit Through the Gift Shop," helmed by U.K. graffiti artist Banksy, which screens out of competish.

A total of 26 films from 18 countries unspool in this year's main section, 20 of them in competition.

Among high-profile pics are Roman Polanski's "The Ghost Writer," starring Brosnan and Ewan McGregor; Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island," with DiCaprio; Rob Epstein's "Howl," starring James Franco; and Michael Winterbottom's "The Killer Inside Me," with Casey Affleck and Jessica Alba.

Other contenders and non-competition screeners include Karan Johar's "My Name Is Khan," starring Shah Rukh Khan; Oskar Roehler's "Jud Suess -- Film ohne Gewissen" and Benjamin Heisenberg's "The Robber."

Werner Herzog heads the jury, which also includes Renee Zellweger among its seven members.

In honor of director Eric Rohmer, who passed away last month, the fest will screen "Pauline at the Beach," which won the best director Silver Bear in 1983, as part of the Berlinale Special sidebar.

Some 400 films will unspool in the fest's various sections, which include Panorama, Forum, Generation, Perspektive Deutsches Kino and Culinary Cinema.

In addition, the Berlinale will fete Japanese helmer Yoji Yamada with its Berlinale Camera award. Yamada's latest work, "Otouto" (About Her Brother), about a woman who looks after her troubled sibling, closes this year's fest following the awards ceremony. The fest presents the Camera to personalities or institutions to which it feels particularly indebted.

The fest is presenting Berlin fine art foundry Noack with a Camera for its long-time association with the Berlinale. The company has cast the Golden and Silver Bears, originally designed by sculptor Renee Sintenis, since the first fest in 1951.

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[Blowfeld]

Looks like some high expectations are being set for "The Ghost Writer" . The previews look good, I wonder if it is not being built up too much.