Berlin: Berlinale Film Festival, Feb 5-15, 2009

Photo courtesy Berlin International Film Festival

BERLIN—The 2009 Berlin International Film Festival, the “Berlinale,” will take place February 5-15. The event celebrates its 59th year in 2009 and boasts an impressive lineup, with some 350 film screenings on deck (most of which are making their debut).

The festival is both an international industry event and a great chance for film enthusiasts to enjoy advance screenings. The Berlinale’s complete 2009 screening schedule has not been released yet, but will be posted soon on the festival’s website.

Some highlights of the 2009 Berlinale

Cold War—The autumn of 2009 will mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. To commemorate the event, the festival will feature “After the Winter comes the Spring,” a film series focused on the end of the Cold War.

Bigger than Life—A retrospective of films shot in the double-wide 70-mm format. The series, called “70 mm — Bigger than Life,” will feature 22 films shot in the format, including American classics West Side Story,  Ben Hur, and Cleopatra, as well as Russian epics.

The International—The film festival will open on February 5, 2009 with the world premiere of the British-German co-production The International, directed by Tom Tykwer (Perfume and Run, Lola Run).

A word about hotels…

Cheapos eager to attend the Berlinale are encouraged to make hotel reservations as soon as possible. We performed an availability search over our lunch break today and found more than 25 of our editor’s pick hotels in Berlin with rooms for under $100 a night (double occupancy–for February 9-11).

But still, availability will be increasingly limited, so if you’re heading to the festival, get a good room while you have some choice.