BERLIN?Star-studded premieres and gritty dramas on the corrosive effects of capitalism will dominate the line-up the 59th Berlin Film Festival starting next week, organizers said Tuesday.

The Berlinale will open February 5 with "The International," a thriller about shadowy players in the world of global finance starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts.

Festival director Dieter Kosslick called it a prescient choice.

"We selected the opening film months ago and in that time it has gone from being a movie to practically becoming a documentary (about the financial crisis)," he told a news conference.

"The International" was directed by Germany's Tom Tykwer. Critics are hoping the picture will mark a comeback after a string of disappointments following his breakout 1998 cult hit "Run, Lola, Run."

Kosslick said Watts may not be able to attend the premiere because she recently gave birth, but expected stars including Owen, Kate Winslet, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Martin, Renee Zellweger, Michelle Pfeiffer, Aishwarya Rai, Demi Moore and Gael Garcia Bernal to grace the red carpet during the 11-day event.

The film industry regards the Berlinale as the second most important European festival after Cannes and it has won a reputation as the most political of the cinema showcases.

A jury led by Oscar winner Tilda Swinton will choose among 18 contenders for the festival's coveted Golden Bear for top film to be awarded February 14.

Among the most keenly awaited pictures are the Franco-US production "In The Electric Mist" by Bertrand Tavernier starring Jones, John Goodman and Peter Sarsgaard and set in Louisiana.

Stephen Frears ("The Queen") will present "Cheri" featuring Pfeiffer and Kathy Bates as ageing courtesans in an adaptation of a 1920 novel by French writer Colette.

Moore and Parker Posey play sisters who return home to care for their irascible ailing father (Rip Torn) in "Happy Tears" by US director Mitchell Lichtenstein.

Oscar-winner Costa-Gavras, who led the 2008 Berlinale jury and will turn 76 during this year's event, is to screen "Eden is West" about illegal immigrants living in Europe.

And Polish veteran Andrzej Wajda, whose films were long championed in Berlin during the Cold War, will unveil "Sweet Rush" about a graying doctor's wife who is taken by surprise by love.

Kosslick cited two documentaries in a sidebar section of the festival, Chinese filmmaker Christina Yao's "Empire of Silver" and "Food, Inc.," a stomach-churning US expose on how food is made and sold in America, as other examples of films this year that took unflinching looks at market capitalism.