Berlin

Director Victoria Mahoney, Oscar-nominee Gabourey Sidibe ("Precious") and Zoë Kravitz in Berlin Saturday night following the World Premiere of their Berlinale Competition film, "Yelling to the Sky." The trio were at the after-party following the debut at Soho House in Berlin for a very nice party and a slew of New York film stalwarts including Joana Vicente and Amy Dotson from IFP, the crew from Elephant Eye who are selling the film internationally, the folks from sales company Submarine and more. In the film, Kravits plays seventeen year old Sweetness O'Hara who is left to fend for herself in a neighborhood where her survival is uncertain. "Yelling to the Sky" is one of the only U.S. entries screening in competition this year in Berlin.

In his first write up of the Berlinale in his Critics Notebook Shane Danielsen called Czech film "Kawasaki's Rose" (Kawasakiho Ruze) "the one undeniable 'find' of the festival so far." Following the premiere of the film, directed by Jan Hrebejk and which screened in the festival's Panorama, all gathered for dinner and some good times (and apparently even a little nudity later that evening) in the German capital. Giving a good pose (and a bit of leg), actors Petra Hrebeckova, Anna Simoniva, Lenka Vlasakova along with Neil Friedman of Menemsha Films. [Photo by Mark Rabinowitz]

Director Joe Berlinger took the prize in Berlin for his doc "Crude" at the Cinema for Peace gala earlier this week, seen here flanked by none other then former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Leonardo DiCaprio who was in town for the world premiere of Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, which had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival. Berlinger's "Crude" follows the story of thousands of Ecuadorans who are waging a legal battle against Chevron over contamination of the Ecuadorean Amazon. "To stand on a stage in Berlin and shake the hand of the man who brought down the Berlin Wall - Mikhail Gorbachev - is truly an honor," Berlinger told indieWIRE about the evening from Berlin. [Image courtesy of Cinema for Peace]

We snapped this quick shot of actress Renee Zellweger at the Berlinale as she posed for photos at the Hyatt Hotel in Potsdamer Platz (a slight blur since the festival doesn't look kindly on photos in the press conference room, which we still are baffled by). Zellweger, who is serving on the competition jury, said she was very happy to be spending the next two weeks in Berlin and was looking forward to seeing the line up.

The Berlinale changed venues for its 60th opening bash Thursday night, opting for a nicely refurbished Soviet-era edifice in the heart of East Berlin called Cafe Moscow. Hundreds of attendees sampled food from a host of well-known Berlin chefs and guzzled wine and some delicious German beer. And of course, Berlinale filmmakers joined in on the fun, including "Waste Land" director Lucy Walker and "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" director Mat Whitecross who both made for a dashing pic for iPOP as the evening wound down. Whitecross' "Rock & Roll" spotlights musician Ian Dury, while "Wasteland," which won an Audience Award at the recent Sundance Film Festival. Walker's "Waste Land" follows Brazilian artist Vik Muniz who creates photographic images of people using found materials from the places where they live and work - Rio's largest landfill. Chinese film "Apart Together" by Wang Quan'an opened the Berlin International Film Festival Thursday night.

Werner Herzog said that "there is no criteria for this," today in Berlin ahead of the opening night gala of Chinese director Wang Quan'an's "Apart Together." Herzog joined his fellow jurors for a round of questioning from press about the philosophy of good film, how to judge work etc. As is typical with jury press conferences, the jurors themselves remained coy lest any of their possible prejudices come through, but the group seemed to play it all off well. Here, Herzog is exiting with fellow juror, German actress Cornelia Froboess.

Blast to the Past: Berlin International Film Festival head Dieter Kosslick gave a sign of peace at the opening of the 2008 Berlinale with Berlin programmer (and now MoMA Film Department head) Rajendra Roy. The festival opens Thursday with the world premiere of "Tuan Yuan" (Apart Together) in the Berlinale Palast and closes with "Otouto" (About Her Brother) by Yoji Yamada February 21. [indieWIRE will be On the Scene with daily dispatches beginning later this week.]

Take a look around, chances are you'll see at least some of these upcoming actors - or so that's the prediction of the Berlinale, which is spotlighting this group, many of whom appear in films in this year's festival line up. Probably the most recognizable (at least Stateside) is 18 year-old German actor David Kross (in the middle), who appeared opposite Kate Winslet in Stephen Daldry's "The Reader." Also in the photo are fellow shooting stars Sarah Bolger (Ireland), Celine Bolomey (Switzerland), Veronica Echegui (Spain), Hafsia Herzi (France), Kross, Cyron Melville (Denmark), Carey Mulligan (U.K.), Alba Caterina Rohrwacher (Italy), Orsi Toth (Hungary) and Samuli Vauramo (Finland). Unfortunately Vauramo got a bit cut off in the photo, but he's quite cute and funny btw.

"Milk" director Gus Van Sant and writer Dustin Lance Black in Berlin where their film is screening in the festival's Panorama section. Both have nominations in the latest Oscar race.

Michelle Pfeiffer certainly brought out the journalists Tuesday afternoon as the press conference for her film, "Cheri," directed by Stephen Frears, was underway. The film will have its debut tonight.