Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman, who play the two main characters of Snow Cake, received raving reviews from critics who had seen the film before it officially opened. Weaver plays an autistic woman who lives withdrawn from the world and Rickman a psychologically wounded man.
Alien-star Weaver said her approach to the role was not only to portray an autistic woman, but to present an autonomous personality who has an autistic side. Rickman said he considered his role a rare reward because it perfectly fitted his real personality.
In addition to director Marc Evans? Snow Cake, the Berlinale?s programme includes 18 feature films, most of them world premieres. The only work from Eastern Europe this year is from Bosnia-Herzegovina and there are four German films in competition.
Last year, director Lajos Koltai?s Fateless, based on Nobel Award winning novelist Imre Kertész? work, represented Hungary at the festival, but this year none of the Hungarian entries were selected for competition.
The first Berlinale was held in 1951 and it opened with Alfred Hitchcock?s film Rebecca. Supported by the US, the Berlinale was initially considered a cultural showcase for western cinema, but it later became the main forum for films from Eastern Europe, as well.
This year?s jury is led by the British actress Charlotte Rampling, who described the Berlinale as a festival devoted to politically demanding and artistically stirring films.
