Editor

During the ten days of the Berlinale most Berlin dailies adorn their front page with large colour photos of celebrity clowning the night before. On Thursday, day number 7 of the fest, however, what was to be seen on all Berlin front pages were shots of men in hooded white spacesuits holding up dead swans fished out of the city lakes, or otherwise attempting to deal with the sudden arrival of the dreaded aviary virus in the midst of the city. Of course, this does not mean that we can expect to see people keeling over on Kurfurstendam in the next few days, but it is a sobering note coming at a time when the city is flooded with foreign visitors here for the film festival.

On the night before actor Heath Ledger and the new princess of Aussie film, Abbie Cornish, pranced about on the red carpet leading into the Gala evening presentation of "Candy" for a good half hour, in spite of the cold inclement sleety weather, basking in the sunshine of adoring fans lined up on both sides of the ropes cordoning off the crowd -- the whole event receiving instant replay on a giant television screen mounted just to the right of the theatre entrance. These red carpet entrances are one of the standard features of truly big festivals such as Berlin and Cannes, which depend on star visitations to provide aura and glamour. Interestingly enough, tomorrow's big arrival will be another top Oscar contender, Philip Seymour Hoffman who will be here to meet the press after screenings of the other most touted film of the year (along with "Brokeback Mountain) "CAPOTE". So we have the two top Oscar contenders for Best Actor showing up in Berlin, literally back-to-back. The main difference is that Heath's film, "Candy" is in competition whereas "Capote" is not

BY Chaim Pevner