Berlin film festival kicks off with Django Reinhardt movie

BERLIN — The curtain is going up on the annual Berlin International Film Festival, with a French film about jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt kicking off the first of the year’s major European movie fests.

“Django,” from first-time director Etienne Comar, is the first of 18 movies competing for the festival’s top Golden Bear award.

This year’s diverse program includes Oren Moverman’s drama “The Dinner,” starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney; a documentary on artist Joseph Beuys by German director Andres Veiel; and British director Sally Potter’s “The Party.”

A seven-member jury led by Dutch director Paul Verhoeven will announce the winners of the Golden Bear and other honours Feb. 18.

Verhoeven said Thursday he hoped to see diverse and “hopefully controversial” movies, “where we as a jury would really have heated arguments.”