Ralph Fiennes debut to play Berlin film festival

Ralph Fiennes debut to play Berlin film festival Image

a DRAMA directed by Ralph Fiennes and a 3-D documentary by Wim Wenders on choreographer Pina Bausch will premiere at the Berlin film festival in February.

Fiennes will unveil Coriolanus, a contemporary reworking of the Shakespeare tragedy about a Roman general who mounts a rebellion against the empire.

The English actor, making his directorial debut, also plays the title role in a cast including Gerard Butler and Vanessa Redgrave. the film will screen out of competition. Pina, a Franco-German production, was originally planned as a collaboration with Bausch, a giant of modern dance who died in June 2009.

Wenders continued the project, featuring 3-D performances by the dancers of her Tanztheater Wuppertal, after her death.

The picture will also run out of competition, in the festival's main showcase.

US independent filmmaker Miranda July (Me and you and everyone We Know) will present the Future, a tale tinged with magical realism about a couple whose relationship is transformed when they adopt a talking cat.

Zoe Kravitz, the daughter of rocker Lenny Kravitz and actress Lisa Bonet, stars in competition entry Yelling to the Sky.

Also vying for the festival's Golden Bear are our Grand Despair from Turkey, Israeli-British drama Lipstikka, set in London and Jerusalem, and if Not us, who?, about the origins of the Baader-Meinhof Gang.

The festival will open with a remake of the classic western True Grit by Joel and Ethan Coen. Italian-American actress Isabella Rossellini will chair the prize jury.