I can’t believe it’s almost that time of the year again, where I will be queuing half a day long to get a couple of tickets for the movie I want to see. Rest assured, it’s worth it!

Alright, a little introduction: Berlinale Film Festival is a yearly event held in Berlin on February. In 2011, the date would from February 10 to February 20. The Berlinale website claimed there are around 400 films shown every year during this festival. Almost all the major theater and cinemas in Berlin are participating and in these two weeks, the city is buzzing with film industry people, some famous actors/actresses, and movie goers (me!). It was really fun to be a part of it and it was also a good distraction from all this winter greyness.

Since a person couldn’t possibly be in so many places at the same, and I suspect watching 400 movies in two weeks would actually kill the brain, the hardest first task is to choose which movie I would like to see. Every year, I noticed the Berlinale website is making improvements, making it slightly easier for navigating through the movie list. Now I just hope next year there’ll be one search based on genre… comedy, happy endings, non suicidals? Because to be honest, depressing movies are the last thing I wanted to watch during this time of year. Well, mostly on any time of the year, actually. Last year I watched a short film starring a guy who is preparing for his suicide in the woods. *shivers*.

Well, moving on, I usually try to see movies that I wouldn’t have the chance on seeing in a normal, every day cinema. In this category are short movies, foreign movies, or classical movies that are just not in theater anymore. I would go through the competition list, and see if any of it interest me.

This year, my list consist of:

• Une vie de chat (A Cat in Paris), an animated French mystery movie for children about cat and Paris. “During the day, Dino the cat brings lizards into little Zoé’s room. At night the predator has another hobby – accompanying the elegant burglar Nico. There is a lot of traffic on the rooftops of Paris. As long as one does not lose one’s balance.”
• Gianni e le donne (The Salt of Life), an Italian comedy movie. “A henpecked pensioner decides to rejuvenate his love life by finding himself a girlfriend – a move made apparently by all Italian men of his age. Except that his peers seem to have more success …”
• Les contes de la nuit (Tales of the Night), an animated French movie competing for the Berlinale award. “Every night a boy, a girl and a woman meet in a magical cinema where they enter the land of their dreams. A combination of traditional silhouette animation and 3D technology.”
• Knerten gifter seg (Twigson Ties the Knot), a Norwegian children movie, sequel to the Knerten movie I saw last year. So excited about this! “Lillebror is back. This time in a mysterious detective story. Helping him are Twigson, the liveliest tree branch in all of Norway, and the adorable birch girl.”
• Mein Bester Feind (My Best Enemy), a Austrian/Luxemburg movie sets in the 30s. “Vienna in the 1930s. Victor is the son of a Jewish gallery owner. After the annexation of Austria by the Nazis his friend Rudi climbs the ranks and betrays Victor. Fate brings the two friends together again during the war.”
• Jag är rund (I am round), a short animated Swedish film for children. “In a square world you have to have corners if you want to fit in.”
• Kuchao (A Gum Boy), a short animated Japanese film for children. “Chew gum, blow bubbles and take off.”
• Aterfödelsen (The Unliving), a short Swedish film. “Life on earth, thirty years after a zombie outbreak.”
• Sju dagar i skogen (Seven Days in the Woods), a short Swedish film. “Trees alongside the road, everything was blurry.”

Note: Description was taken from the Berlinale website.

So, there it is! If you’re in Berlin and you intend to see one of the movies, do share which one(s) your interested in.