As has become a pleasant habit here at the Berlinale, Asian cinema is highly prominent in all sections of the Festival. The Berlinale has long been the international launching pad for films and filmmakers from the Far East. The Festival is credited with giving their first international recognition to such celebrated filmmakers as Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou, Kim Ki-Duk, Johnnie To and Chan Wook Park. Ang Lee's debut film PUSHING HANDS premiered in Berlin and Lee eventually went on  to win the Golden Bear in 1993 for THE WEDDING BANQUET (which tied that year with another Asian film, XIANG HUN NU from Chinese director Fei Xie).

An Asian film became the first winner of the prestigious Golden Bear in 1993 when the Chinese film RED SORGHUM won the Festival's top prize. This was repeated in 2006 with the win by TUYA'S MARRIAGE by Chinese director Wang Quan'an, whose newest film TUAN YUAN (Apart Together) was the Opening Night Gala for this year's event.

Several other Asian films are being showcased in this year's Main Competition section. MY NAME IS KHAN by Indian writer/director Karan Johar stars Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan in an unsual dramatic role as a Moslem Indian with autism adrift in a post-911 America. SHEKARCHI (The Hunter) is an Iraqi-German co-production written and directed by Raffi Pitts about a prison parolee who tries to rebuild his life by salvaging fraying ends of his family.

CATERPILLAR from Japanese director Koji Wakamatsu is a powerful tale of survival that focuses on the struggles of an amputee soldier who returns to his native village following the Sino-Japanese war in the early years of the 20th century. Another Japanese film OTOUTO (About Her Brother) is a delicate drama about family loyalties in the face of death by writer/director Yojji Yamada. And last but not least, the Festival closes with the latest epic from iconic Chinese director Zhang Yimou, A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP. The Berlinale continues its Asian embrace with a diverse and challenging slate of the best of new Asian cinema.

Sandy Mandelberger, Berlinale Dailies Editor