Berlinale 2005: Special Report

A FESTIVAL of surprises and discoveries, the fourth under the aegis of Dieter Kosslick, the 55th Berlinale (10-20 February 2005) set a new attendance record - 400,000 visitors, 180,000 sold tickets - and welcomed 17,000 accredited guests from 120 countries, including 1,000 more trade passes for the European Film Market (a 30% increase). One hopes, however, that weather conditions will be better next year than experienced this time around - following a mild winter, snow and rain arrived with a bang just after the festival opened, a misfortune that led to dampened spirits and less merriment on the red carpet before the Berlinale Palast for the gala screenings. But this didn't prevent scores of cineastes parading to the Gropius-Bau for the all-embracing Stanley Kubrick Retrospective and Exhibition Tribute. After all, since the theme of this year's Berlinale Retrospective was titled "Production Design + Film," no great master of modern..