Berlin Festival films compete for the Golden Bear

The Berlin International Film Festival will feature 21 films competing for the Golden Bear top prize next month.

Contenders will include the US production Sometimes in April, which focuses on the trauma of Rwanda's civil war; Heights, the directorial debut of Chris Terrio that follows shifting love stories on a summer day in New York; and the Dutch-German-French co-production Paradise Now, by Hany Abu-Asad, which follows 28 hours in the lives of two Palestinian suicide bombers.

Other films include Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov's Solntse (The Sun), which revolves around Japanese Emperor Hirohito, and the Italian production Provincia Meccanica, about a chaotic, but loving family. Kinsey, Bill Condon's film about American sex researcher Alfred C. Kinsey, starring Liam Neeson, will close out the competition, organisers said.

Roland Emmerich, the German director of Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow will head the jury. The 55th edition begins on February 10, running until February 20.

- AGENCIES