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And so the festival season kicks off.. Berlin’s Berlinale Film Festival is one of the largest events in the film industry’s calendar. More than 19,000 industry people (including the joiningthedocs.tv team) from around 136 different countries are accredited to the event each year. This year Berlinale will celebrate its 60th anniversary, the curtain opening early next month with the screening of director Wang Quan’an’s Apart Together (Tuan Yuan), a period drama set in the grasslands of Mongolia.

Yoji Yamada seems happy about closing this year's Berlinale festival

2010’s programme is stuffed with over 400 titles. In recent years documentary has been putting in a strong appearance, making up around one third of the festival. In addition to screenings, there will be an array of panellist discussions, workshops, exhibitions and events. Since 2003 the festival has partnered with Talent Campus to host a winter school for emerging filmmakers. Past workshops have been hosted by the likes of the late Anthony Mingella and South Korean director Chan-wook Park.

The closing film of this year’s festival is About her Brother (Otouto) by Japanese director Yoji Yamada.  Martin Scorsese’s eagerly anticipated Shutter Island along with  Roman Polanski’s Ghost Writer, which will also premier at this year’s festival. The full festival programme will be announced at the end of January.