Baumbach, Winterbottom films join Berlin lineup

BERLIN (Hollywood Reporter) - The Berlin International Film Festival is going indie for its 60th anniversary next month with new pictures from Michael Winterbottom, Noah Baumbach, Thomas Vinterberg and other independent filmmakers among the competition lineup.

Baumbach's comedy "Greenberg," starring Ben Stiller as a New Yorker house-sitting for his brother in Los Angeles, will have its world premiere in Berlin as will Vinterberg's latest, "Submario," a Danish drama that sees the director of "The Celebration" returning to the treacherous landscape of familial relationships.

Winterbottom's Western thriller "The Killer Inside Me," starring Casey Affleck, will head to Berlin after its world premiere in Sundance, one of several titles catching the Park City-Berlin express this year.

These include "Howl," a drama from documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman centered on poet Allen Ginsberg's 1957 obscenity trial; Nicole Holofcener's comedy "Please Give" starring Catherine Keener and Amanda Peet; and Lisa Cholodenko's "The Kids Are Alright." Both "Please Give" and "The Kids Are Alright" will screen out of competition in Berlin.

Asian films will open and close the Berlinale: Wang Quan'an's "Apart Together" on February 11 and "About Her Brother," from Japanese director Yoji Yamada on February 20.