2008 Is Volkswagen's 6th Year as Main Partner of the Berlinale

Wolfsburg/Berlin, 29 January 2008 - Volkswagen will once again be driving the stars to the red carpet at the Berlin International Film Festival from 7 to 17 February 2008.

Volkswagen has been playing an active role in the German capital's prestigious film festival for six years now. There are good reasons to do so, as the Berlinale is more than ever a beacon of international excellence, high artistic quality and bold innovation. Film is and will remain a medium driven by emotions.

With its wide variety of genres, it captivates not only cinema enthusiasts, but also a large proportion of the population. Therein lies the parallel with the Volkswagen brand: innovative and emotional product diversity with high quality for people with all kinds of lives. Volkswagen is therefore glad to be once again safely chauffeuring the stars, festival guests and industry professionals to the Berlinale Filmpalast in 2008. However, the company's involvement goes well beyond the shuttle fleet:

From 7 to 17 February Volkswagen and the Berlinale will be jointly welcoming their guests in the "Volkswagen Golden Bear Lounge", the popular meeting place for the movie business world in the Hotel Grand Hyatt. Only this lounge offers the "Window on the Red Carpet" with a direct view of everything happening in front of the Berlinale Palast.

Moreover, the "Volkswagen People’s Night" has now become a real "place to be" on the second evening of the film festival. This year it will be held for the first time in the Akademie der Künste (Academy of Arts). "Against the dramatic backdrop of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag building, Seal and Die Fantastischen Vier will be appearing live to really make this party something special. You can't get more Berlin than that." says Heike Lichte, Head of Public Relations at Volkswagen.

The Wolfsburg carmakers are devoting particular attention to those still on their way to becoming stars. The Berlin International Film Festival has a strong tradition of promoting new movie talent. To this end, Volkswagen is sponsoring the presentation of the European Shooting Stars by European Film Promotion at the Berlinale. This year for the first time, an expert jury of major names chaired by camera legend Michael Ballhaus has chosen the nine budding actors. They will be presented to the audience on 11 February in the Berlinale Filmpalast by Dieter Kosslick. While staying in Berlin, they will be getting around in the Tiguan, the shooting star from Wolfsburg. Among the winners is Germany's up-and-coming talent Hannah Herzsprung ("Four Minutes"). The renowned photographer Jim Rakete will be capturing images of the young stars in a joint photo shoot with the singer Seal.

And again the Berlin International Film Festival is demonstrating its commitment to new international film talent with the Berlinale Talent Campus. It provides the setting for the fifth Volkswagen Score Competition for young sound designers. Two-times Oscar-winner Gustavo Santaolalla will be taking on the role of mentor (best score for "Babel" and "Brokeback Mountain"). The contestants have been given the task of creating soundtracks for selected scenes from well-known films. The climax will be the awarding of the prizes on 14 February. This year's varied programme covering almost all aspects of film-making includes the panel discussion conceived by Wolfgang Müller-Pietralla, Head of Futures Research at Volkswagen AG, with the title "Cinema in the Crystal Ball". And no Campus Farewell Party would be complete without the traditional Volkswagen curried sausage.

Volkswagen vehicles will also be taking the VIP guests to the Teddy Awards ceremony. One award that has become an established part of the festival action is the audience prize, the Volkswagen TEDDY Ballot, awarded jointly by Volkswagen and the city magazine Tip.

Volkswagen is also sponsoring various film premieres at the festival, for instance "The Other Boleyn Girl" starring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson, and "Transsiberian" with Thomas Kretschmann, Woody Harrelson and Ben Kingsley.

Source: Volkswagen

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