Berlin film festival prepares for big night

The Berlin film festival picked its winner yesterday, with US director Robert Altman among the favourites to take the Golden Bear with a gentle, touching picture that stood out among a typically hard-hitting selection.

At the other end of the spectrum came Michael Winterbottom's The Road to Guantanamo, a searing attack on the US prison told through the story of three Britons caught in Afghanistan and held for over two years without charge. Between the pastoral and the political came Berlin's usual diet of grim topics, featuring heroin addicts, stillbirth, rape, mental breakdown and exorcism.

Of Germany's four entries among the 19 competition films, three were particularly well received, raising the possibility that 2006 could see a home victory.

The Free Will about a serial rapist, Longing about an idyllic marriage torn apart by infidelity and Requiem, about a German college student subjected to an exorcism, were in the running, with central performances praised in all three.

France's Isabelle Huppert was also singled out by critics and seen as a contender for the best actress Silver Bear for her role as a ruthless examining magistrate determined to bring down corrupt corporate bigwigs in Comedy of Power.

Many found Bosnia's Grbavica, which picked up the Peace Prize, a moving examination of the legacy of war that lingers to this day, and Offside from Iran pleased the crowds with its tale of the exclusion of women from soccer and society.

Another highlight was Sidney Lumet's Find Me Guilty, in which action hero Vin Diesel was a revelation as real life mobster Giacomo "Fat Jack" DiNorscio.

For the 81-year-old director Lumet it was a return to courtroom drama nearly 50 years after his seminal Twelve Angry Men, starring Henry Fonda. As well as the Golden Bear for best film, the award ceremony yesterday evening featured Silver Bears for best actor, best actress and best director, and the Jury Grand Prix, widely seen as a runner-up prize in the best film category.

Hollywood made its presence felt in Berlin, with Oscar hopefuls George Clooney and Philip Seymour Hoffman in town to tout Syriana and Capote respectively. Both have been released in the United States already to critical acclaim. Fellow Oscar acting nominees Heath Ledger and Catherine Keener were also on the red carpet.