Rene Zellweger, Judi Dench, Clive Owen star in Berlin premieres

My One and Only, aU.S. comedystarring Rene Zellweger, Kevin Bacon and Logan Lerman, has been added to the lineup for the Berlin Film Festival.

It will be the world premiere for the American comedy, directed by Richard Loncraine, about a woman in the 1950s searching for a wealthy husband.

Other Hollywood stars expected to be in Berlin for the festival, the first European festival of the year, include Tommy Lee Jones, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench, Naomi Watts and Clive Owen.

The Berlin festival runs Feb. 5-15 and will play host to 17 world premieres.

On Tuesday, festival organizers announced a special gala for An Education, the British film about a schoolgirl hungry for experience who becomes involved with an older man. The film, directed by Lone Scherfig, was highly regarded at the Sundance Film Festival and won the World Dramatic Audience Award.

Another gala will be held for It Might Get Loud, the documentary by Davis Guggenheim about the electric guitar featuring Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White.

'Suddenly reflect reality'

There are 18 films in competition for the Golden Bear award, most of them previously announced.

Tom Tykwer's The International, which opens the festival next week,traces corruption in world financial systems and is looking very relevant in light of the current world economic crisis,said festival director Dieter Kosslick.

"Many films suddenly reflect reality better than anything else," Kosslick said at a news conference. "Fiction has caught up with reality this year."

Other highly anticipated films in competition include:

• Cheri, a film about a courtesan in 1920s Paris by British director Stephen Frears.
• Tatarak, by Polish director Andrzej Wajda.
• The Messenger, by writer-director Oren Moverman, starring Woody Harrelson as a soldier who becomes involved with the widow of a fellow officer.

French director Claude Chabrol, creator of Les Cousins and La Fleur du Mal, and German producer Guenter Rohrbach, of Das Boot and Berlin Alexanderplatz, willbe honouredwith the Berlinale Camera for their contribution to cinema.