Berlin International Film Festival.

9-19 Feb 2006. Actress Charlotte Rampling chairs the international jury in this years edition of the Berlinale, one of Europes most prestigious film festivals and the biggest movie event in Germany, with around 180,000 tickets sold for over 800 screenings. The festivals most coveted prize, the Golden Bear, is awarded for best film, while Silver Bears go to six other categories including best director, best actor and best actress. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on 18 Feb. This year is the 20th anniversary of the Teddy Bear award for gay and lesbian cinema. To celebrate, the Berlinale is hosting the Teddy Twenty Tribute with a retrospective of 36 films that have been shown at the festival over the last 20 years. Besides the international competition, the Berlinale also has a childrens section the Kinderfilmfest/14plus a retrospective programme of cinema classics, the panorama section, an international forum of new cinema and the Perspektive Deutsches Kino, which this year has the theme Between Poverty and Good Cheer. The Berlinale Palast is the main venue for award ceremonies and film premieres, while the Cinemaxx on Potsdamer Platz is the festivals busiest venue, with films showing from morning to night on the cinemas 19 screens. Admission 11-7, Kinderfilm 3, Berlinale Kinotag 6. See festival website for film details.