As Berlin festival ends, U.S. and UK films eye prize

By Mike Collett-White

BERLIN (Reuters) - The Berlin Film Festival ends on Saturday with a glitzy awards ceremony where a sweeping Hollywood epic and a low-budget British comedy are the critics' favourites for the main prize - the coveted Golden Bear.

With all 21 films in the main competition screened, and dozens more showcased in other sections of the annual celebration of cinema, "There Will Be Blood", which already has eight Oscar nominations, is the slight favourite.

But the fact the film is already out in the United States and has won several top awards there may count against it in the eyes of the Berlin jury, which may favour Mike Leigh's "Happy-Go-Lucky", about an infectiously optimistic London teacher called Poppy.

A win for Leigh would mean he completes the hat-trick of top prizes at the three big European cinema festivals, having won the Palme d'Or in Cannes and Golden Lion in Venice.

Other popular entries included the emotionally-charged French film "I've Loved You So Long", starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Italy's "Quiet Chaos", about a grieving executive played by Nanni Moretti and Germany's "Cherry Blossoms - Hanami".

Also in the running is "Lake Tahoe", a Mexican study of a teenager, "The Elite Squad", about corrupt policemen in Brazil fighting drug crime, and "Standard Operating Procedure", a U.S. documentary about abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Rounding off the entries seen as possible winners are "In Love We Trust", in which a divorced couple in Beijing try to save their sick child, and "Elegy", starring Penelope Cruz and Ben Kingsley in a movie about ageing, insecurity and death.