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Image for 60th Berlin international film festival opens: cream of the German cream (21 images)

60th Berlin international film festival opens: cream of the German cream (21 images)

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Culture

A Franco-German-Polish cafebabel team will be bringing you their pick of the crop at this year's Berlin film festival between 11 to 21 February. Shots from the opening gala

The 2010 Berlin film festival has kicked off...

(Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

...and this year, it's 60 years old

(Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

A Berlinale tradition

Some cinema fans even camped overnight under the arches of Potsdamer Platz to ensure they got their precious paper pieces of treasure (Image: ©Sebastien Vannier)

Queues

The opening gala on 11 February didn't look so glamorous from the outside (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

Renée Zellweger

So thank the Golden Bear God for the glam brought by the Texas-born Bridget Jones' Diary star. The 40-year-old, who has a German grandmother, braved the event in a dress by her favourite designer, the Venezuelan Carolina Herrera. She is judging alongside British star Tilda Swinton (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

Dieter Kosslick

Your host with the most: it's the Berlinale's director (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

Anke Engelke

And your hostess with the mostess is the Canadian-born German comedian, 44, who is also the voice of Germany's version of Marge Simpson and a well-known TV presenter (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

Max Raabe

Opening the ceremony with his cerca 1986 Palast Orchestra, the 47-year-old baritone is a cafebabel favourite for his renditions of Britney Spears and songs like Sex Bomb (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

David Kross

Pictured here with Stephen Daldry, the British director who brought the 19-year-old to fame in The Reader (2008) alongside Kate Winslet (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

Wim Wenders

Shot of the stylised 64-year-old director of Paris, Texas (1984) (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

Frank-Walter Steinmeier

Politics serving slice one: when he's not planning the role of the German army in Afghanistan, the former foreign minister and head of the social democrats, 54, attends glitzy events like this one (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

Klaus Wowereit (L)

Politics serving slice two: the mayor of Berlin, pictured with boyfriend, is lauded for having coined the phrase 'Berlin: arm, aber sexy' ('poor, but sexy') (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

Sebastian Koch

The 47-year-old hunk seduced European audiences for his role in the Oscar-winning The Lives of Others (2006) (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

Martina Gedeck

And here's Koch's former leading lady. The Lives Of Others actress from Munich, 48, is here for her part in Oskar Roehler's Jud Süss: Film Without a Conscience, which has its world premiere during the festival (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

Mario Adorf

You know the Italian-German actor, 69, from his lead role in The Tin Drum (1978) (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

Monica Mo

The Chinese actress stars in the film which opens this year's Berlinale: Apart Together (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

Armin Mueller-Stahl

The German actor, 79, is a familiar face to western audiences and Hollywood for his role in Ron Howard's sequel to The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons (2009) (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

Armin Rohde

The German actor, 54, mostly works on national television (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

Christoph Schlingensief

The film director, 49, has been in the news of late with the story of his battle with lung cancer. Pictured with girlfriend Aino Laberenz (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)

More than 20 films are in competition this year and hundreds of others from the likes of Martin Scorcese and Roman Polanski will be premiering over the next ten days of the festival (Image: ©Sebastien Vannier)

Watch this space! (Image: ©Katarzyna Swierc)