BERLIN (AP) — New movies from directors Steven Soderbergh and Gus Van Sant and a trio of films starring French divas will be competing this year at the Berlin International Film Festival.
A diverse selection of 19 movies — including films from Kazakhstan and Iran — will vie for the main Golden Bear prize at Europe's first major film festival of the year.
Van Sant's film about the shale gas industry, "Promised Land," and Soderbergh's thriller "Side Effects" are the most prominent U.S. offerings. There's a strong contingent from eastern Europe, including Oscar-winning Bosnian director Danis Tanovic's "An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker" about a poor Gypsy family.
French actresses Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Huppert all star in separate competition entries.
The festival runs Feb. 7-17.
