"Bel Ami" among the Indiewire's 10 Films We Want to See at Berlinale 2012

"Bel Ami" among the Indiewire's 10 Films We Want to See at Berlinale 2012

The 62nd Berlin International Film Festival kicks off tomorrow, offering dozens (and dozens) of world premieres across mutliple sections. By the time the festival's Golden and Silver Bears are handed out next weekend, we'll have a good idea as to the world cinema that will come to theaters near you (eventually, that is -- some of last year's program is just coming out Stateside now).

In the past few years, the festival has proven itself -- perhaps more than it has in some time -- as an excellent platform for emerging and proven talent in world cinema to debut their work. Last year's crop ended up gaining more Oscar nominations than the 2011 Sundance Film Festival's slate.

Among them were Asghar Farhadi's "A Separation," Wim Wenders' "Pina" and Michael R. Roskham's "Bullhead," as well as Bela Tarr's "The Turin Horse," Ulrich Kohler's "Sleeping Sickness," Ralph Fiennes' "Coriolanus," and Celine Sciamma's "Tomboy." Not bad for a festival that many felt had found itself in a threatening slump a few years prior.

So what's likely to follow in those films' collective footsteps this year? Hard to say. Berlin has become a festival of unexpected discovery. Few would have ever foreseen going into last year's event that "A Separation" would end up a double Oscar nominee. Nonetheless, as we board our flights, here's 10 of our best bets.

Bel Ami (Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod, UK)

Not to the be confused with the brand of Eastern European gay porn, "Bel Ami" instead stars Robert Pattinson in another attempt to move beyond his "Twilight" fame. The period film adapted from the book by Guy de Maupassant follows a young man's rise to power in Paris via his manipulation of the city's most powerful women (Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Christina Ricci). Perhaps the most star-studded offering at the fest, it could be (campy?) fun.

Source => Indiewire / Via => Thinking of Rob