Wes Anderson’s second stop-motion work ‘Isle of Dogs’ has been announced as the Opening Film at this years’ Berlinale. The eagerly awaited follow-up to ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ sees the acclaimed director revisiting the wold of animation, in which he already delivered the classic ‘The Legendary Mr. Fox.’
‘Isle of Dogs’ is a dystopian tale set in a future Japan in which dogs have been quarantined on an island due to “canine flu”, it follows five local dogs trying to protect a twelve year-old boy named Atari, who goes to the island to search for his dog and will fight against the machinations of a corrupt Mayor. The film’s impressive vocal cast features Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Ken Watanabe, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, F. Murray Abraham, Yoko Ono, Harvey Keitel and Frank Wood, among many others.
Anderson’s work has been regularly showcased in Berlin, his former film ‘The Great Budapest Hotel’ was also the opener of the 2014 edition, winning the Silver Bear.
The announcement followed a few previous ones revealing part of the programme in the different sections. Highlights so far feature the latest works by Gus Van Sant (Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot) with Hollywood’s most celebrated couple Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mana; Benoit Jacquot (Eva) with Isabelle Huppert or Philip Gröning. James Benning, The Otolith Group or Morgan Fisher in its experimental and documentary section, Forum Expanded. A retrospective of the cinema during the Weimar Republic and, in its Panorama section, the latest documentary by Swedish filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson (That Summer); Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Yosho) and a notable number of Latin American works, among them, the latest features by Argentinean Santiago Loza (Malambo, The Good Man) and the body politics-themed feature by Brazilian directing couple Claudia Priscilla and Kiko Goifman (Fanny Trag).
The veteran film festival will take place this year from the 15th to the 25th of February.
