For the Berlin Film Festival, which opens this evening, the choice of an international action thriller is an odd choice for an Opening Night Film. The Festival, which has the reputation for championing gritty, social issue-oriented films, the choice is not as strange as it first appears. THE INTERNATIONAL, a globe-trotting espionage tale starring UK heartthrob Clive Owen and Australian thrush Naomi Watts, is directed by Tom Twyker, the German wunderkind who singlehandedly jumpstarted the New German Cinema of the past few years with his international hit, RUN LOLA RUN.

The Berlin-based filmmaker made his first English-language film in 2006, the poorly received PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER. This time out he takes full advantage of the star power of his cast to tell the story of an Interpol agent (Owen) who teams up with a Manhattan district attorney (Watts) to bring to justice one of the world's most powerful banks. Uncovering illegal activities including money laundering, arms trading, and the destabilization of governments, the duo’s investigation takes them from Berlin to Milan to New York and to Istanbul. With banks failing across the globe and corporate “captains of industry” being unveiled as greedy power brokers, the setting may be just right for this kind of economics-on-steroids thriller.

The film, which is being distributed in North America by studio giant Columbia Pictures and internationally by Sony Pictures International, features the screenwriting debut of American scenarist Eric Warren Singer. A press conference featuring the film’s director, writer and stars is set for this afternoon. The film is a US/German co-production between Los Angeles-based Relativity Media and Mosaic Media Group and German-based Atlas Films, Studio Babelsberg and producer-based X-Filmes Creative Group. Official film website: http://www.everybodypays.com/

Sandy Mandelberger, Berlinale Dailies Editor