The 57th annual Berlinale kicked off thursday evening in Berlin with the screening of La Vie En Rose, a moving portrayal of french singer Edith Piaf whose life was tainted by tragedy. Piaf is played by French actress Marion Cotillard (top picture), whose performance is already being lauded by the critics. International jury for the main Competition, includes actors Willem Dafoe, Gael Garcia Bernal (middle right picture), Mario Adorf (middle left picture) and Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass (middle center picture), Hong Kong film producer Nansun Shi and Danish film editor Molly Malene Stensgaard. The jury is chaired by writer-director Paul Schrader, who recalled "the cold-war" jury he sat on back in 1987 when politics fueled heated arguments over the films in Berlinale contention.
Openly gay mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, arrived at the ceremony with boyfriend Jörg Kubicki (bottom picture). He was asked by TV presenter Charlotte Roche, hosting the show, who he'd like to see play him in a movie about his political rise. Alec Baldwin, he answered with no hesitation.

Source Variety

SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM, A Donald Strachey mystery.
When gay private eye Donald Strachey finds his latest client dead, he decides to take matters into his own hands. Strachey’s investigation leads him on a dark and dangerous trail into the world of "gay conversion therapy" - a twisted mix of psychology and religion designed by a doctor to turn homosexuals "straight." Based on the best-selling series of novels by Richard Stevenson. Available on DVD



Shock to the system, A Donald Strachey mystery, starring Chad Allen, Sebastian Spence, Michael Woods, Morgan Fairchild, Daryl Shuttleworth, directed by Ron Oliver. Watch the trailer...


THE GOLDEN GIRLS - The Complete Seventh and Final Season (1985)
The Golden Girls is based on the lives and interactions of four older women whom have all been divorced/widowed, and are now roommates. Bea Arthur's (Dorothy) main goal during the series is to find a companion she can relate to while her mother Estelle Getty (Sophia) adds her comical outlook and frequent "Picture This" stories. Betty White's (Rose) St. Olaf-ness makes her a little corny but lovable. One thing that changes nearly every episode is whom Rue McClanahan (Blanche) is courting. She's a little too promiscuous for her own good... Available on DVD



The Golden Girls - The Complete Seventh and Final Season (1985), starring Bea Arthur's, Estelle Getty, Betty White, Rue McClanahan. Watch the opening theme...


VIVA PEDRO - Pedro Almodovar Classics Collection (Talk to Her/Bad Education/All about My Mother/Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown/Live Flesh/Flower of My Secret /Matador/Law of Desire)
8 films by spanish director-writer Pedro Almodóvar, collected together for the first time in a superb giftset. Includes: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, All About My Mother, Talk to Her, The Flower of My Secret, Live Flesh, Bad Education, Law of Desire and Matador. Available on DVD



Viva Pedro - Pedro Almodovar Classics Collection: Starring Gael García Bernal, Fele Martínez, Marisa Paredes, Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Juan Echanove, Javier Cámara... Directed by Pedro Almodovar. Watch a presentation...

Actor Gael Garcia Bernal joined other Mexican celebrities Tuesday to voice support for Mexico City's new law legalizing gay civil unions.
Garcia Bernal, actor Diego Luna and director Alfonso Cuaron were among 51 people who published a half-page open letter in local newspapers supporting the law passed this month by local lawmakers.
The law was signed last week by Mexico City Mayor Alejandro Encinas and is due to go into effect in four months. It allows same-sex couples living in Mexico City to register civil unions with authorities, granting them inheritance rights and other benefits typically given to spouses.
Garcia Bernal, star of "Amores Perros," "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and "The Motorcycle Diaries," frequently weighs in on politics. While promoting his new movie "Babel," in which his character gets into trouble with U.S. immigration authorities, he criticized a planned U.S. fence along its border with Mexico as "absurd." Source International Herald Tribune

Watch Babel trailer: