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Andreas Dresen’s favorite Berlinale memory, as you’d expect, involves Currywurst.

“I was on the jury one year, And it was clear I was the local guy among all these big names,” he recalls. “Now the festival had a vegan menu already then, and at the awards dinner, we had great food but they were quite small portions and [jury president] Wong Kar Wai turns to me and says ‘Andreas, can’t we get some real food?’ So I took them all, Susanne Bier, Shirin Neshat, Tim Robbins, everyone in tuxes and evening gowns, to [legendary Berlin snack bar] Curry 36 for a Currywurst. Even Tim Robbins, who actually is vegetarian, tucked in. I personally saw him gobble up three Currywursts. It was the most Berlin moment ever.”

Dresen has had a few. The 60-year-old director has been a regular at Germany’s top film festival since 1991 when his student film So schnell es geht nach...

A determined Turkish mother takes on the authorities in Rabiye Kurnaz Vs. George W. Bush, Andreas Dresen’s drama that takes a light approach to a moving true story.

Dresen’s first Berlin Film Festival competition film since 2015’s As We Were Dreaming, it stars comic actress Meltem Kaptan as Rabiye Kurnaz. She’s a cheerful, effervescent woman living in Germany, whose grown son, Murat, is unexpectedly imprisoned during his travels and sent to Guantanamo. Convinced of Murat’s innocence, Rabiye bulldozes her way into the offices of a local human rights lawyer, Bernhard Docke (Alexander Scheer), who agrees to take the case.

The more Docke investigates, the more they are both aghast at the situation, but even with the press on their side, it’s a long and stressful journey to potential justice.

While Dresen and screenwriter Laila Stieler touch on those stresses in a couple of emotional scenes,...

The Match Factory is selling Andreas Dresen’s feature.

Screen can reveal an exclusive first trailer for Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush, Andreas Dresen’s comedy drama that is debuting in Competition at the Berlinale on Saturday.

The Match Factory is selling the film.

Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush centres on an ordinary woman living in Bremen, Germany whose son is accused of terrorism and shipped off to Guantanamo. As she battles for his release, she sets off on a journey that takes her all the way to the Supreme Court in Washington D.C.

Cologne-based comedienne Meltem Kaptan stars as Rabiye,...

International sales company The Match Factory has revealed its Berlin Film Festival lineup, including two titles in Competition: “A E I O U – A Quick Alphabet of Love” by Nicolette Krebitz and “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush” by Andreas Dresen.

The Match Factory, which was acquired by Mubi last week, has three films in the shortlist for the International Feature Film Oscar: “Great Freedom,” “Drive My Car” and “Prayers for the Stolen.”

After the irreverent “Wild,” which premiered at Sundance in 2016, Krebitz is back with a new take on love in “A E I O U – A Quick Alphabet of Love.”

The film follows an actress who is mugged in front of a trendy bar in West Berlin. Barging into her, a young man takes her handbag and runs off into the night. A short while later, they meet again. She is Anna (Sophie Rois) and he is Adrian...

With under three weeks to go, the Berlin Film Festival has completed its competition roster, adding new titles from Pablo Larraín, Wim Wenders and Oliver Hirschbiegel. In total, 19 of the 23 films in the program will be vying for Golden and Silver Bears. Twenty-one of the titles are world premieres including new addition El Club from Larraín whose 2012 No scored an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. World premiering out of competition is Wenders’ drama Everything Will Be Fine with James Franco, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Rachel McAdams and Marie-Josée Croze. The veteran helmer nabbed his third Best Documentary Feature Oscar nomination last week with The Salt Of The Earth. He’s also the subject of an homage at this year’s Berlin fest, and will be presented with an Honorary Golden Bear for his lifetime achievement.

Also in an out-of-competition world premiere is Downfall and Diana director Hirschbiegel’s Elser (13 Minutes...

The first paparazzi photos from Terrence Malick’s "Knight of Cups" surfaced in October 2012. Featuring Christian Bale and Natalie Portman playing in the ocean, it looked as poetic and narrative-less as anyone could hope from the "Badlands" and "Tree of Life" director. Since the shoot, Malick shot a second film (set around the Austin music scene... we think) and fought a few legal battles over his "Tree of Life" IMAX companion film "Voyage of Time." So we’ll forgive him that it’s taken this long for "Knight of Cups" to actually make its way on to the theater circuit and towards an actual release date. Monday morning, the 65th Berlin Film Festival announced the first seven films to be included in its 2015 Competition program. And whaddaya know — "Knight of Cups" is on it! Starring Bale, Portman, and Cate Blanchett, the film is about… well, we’re not sure. When...

The first seven films for the 65th Berlin Film Festival Competition program have just been announced, slightly lifting a veil of mystery on at least one title. Included in the lineup is Terrence Malick’s Knight Of Cups, which will vie for prizes in its world premiere. Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Natalie Portman star. Malick has been notorious for the secrecy that shrouds his projects and little has been known about Knight Of Cups other than that it deals with temptations, celebrity, and excess. The Berlin announcement hasn’t provided any more intel, but watchers have pondered when the film would make its first festival appearance, and its inclusion in the Berlinale’s first competition titles has just added an extra dimension to the proceedings as news begins to trickle out of Germany. Malick has won in Berlin before, taking the Golden Bear for 1999’s The Thin Red Line.

Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella to get international premiere out of comp.

The first seven films for the 65th Berlin International Film Festival Competition programme have been selected.

Competitors include former Berlinale bear winners Andreas Dresen (Nightshapes, 1999; Grill Point, 2002) and Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line, 1999) with their newest works.

Berlinale regular Peter Greenaway, former Generation participant Andrew Haigh, Russian director Alexey German and newcomer Jayro Bustamante also make the cut.

Kenneth Branagh’s live action Cinderella will screen out of competition.

Films confirmed in competition to date (in alphabetical order):

45 Years

United Kingdom

By Andrew Haigh (Weekend)

With Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay

World premiere

Als wir träumten (As We Were Dreaming)

Germany / France

By Andreas Dresen (Grill Point, Cloud 9, Stopped on Track)

With Merlin Rose, Julius Nitschkoff, Joel Basman, Marcel Heuperman, Frederic Haselon, Ruby O. Fee

World premiere

Cinderella

USA

By Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet)

With Cate Blanchett, Lily James, Richard Madden, [link...