Life Sweet for Heath
From Sydney Confidential
Mercury News
08feb06


THE saddle is still warm, but Academy Award contender Heath Ledger will trade his cowboy swagger for a heroin junkie snarl when he heads to Berlin to cheer for Candy this week.

As the Berlin Film Festival rolls out the red carpet for some of the world's top stars, including Isabella Rossellini, George Clooney and Meryl Streep, Ledger will be in the good company of a swag of Aussie talent.

But he won't be there to promote gay cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain - instead, the event will mark the beginning of the publicity trail for Candy, the Australian film in which he stars with Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush.

Ledger will be joined by local stage and screen veterans Garry McDonald, Noni Hazlehurst and Abbie Cornish at the premiere, a love story about heroin addiction.

The film will screen in Australia from May 25.

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Berlin rolls out red carpet for stars
smh.com.au
February 7, 2006 - 12:01PM



After a weak line-up of celebrities last year, the Berlin Film Festival is gearing up to roll out the red carpet this week for some of the world's top stars including Australia's hot Oscar contender Heath Ledger.

Other stars and directors expected to make their way to Berlin also include Isabelle Huppert, Gael Garcia Bernal, Isabella Rossellini, George Clooney, Meryl Streep and John Hurt.

But Ledger is not there to promote Brokeback Mountain - the gay cowboy film which has received eight Oscar nominations including one for him.

Instead he'll be cheering for Candy, an Australian film in which he stars with Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush.

He is also supported by other Australian stage and screen veterans Garry McDonald, Noni Hazelhurst as well as Abbie Cornish.

The film, which is set in Sydney and Melbourne, is directed by Neil Armfield and based on the novel by Luke Davies.

It's a love story narrated by Dan (Heath Ledger), who falls in love with two kinds of candy: a woman of the same name and heroin.

The festival, now in its 56th year, opens on Thursday with German-born director Marc Evans' Snow Cake, a drama starring Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman and depicting the friendship between an autistic woman and a man traumatised after a fatal car accident.

Both London-born Rickman and America's Weaver are among the star-studded guests who are expected for this year's festival, which is one of the world's top three movie fests.

Coming as Berlin's cold grey winter months grind on, the festival's annual glamour offensive helps to give the German capital a touch of glitz amid the gloom of February.

Renowned British actress Charlotte Rampling is to head the international jury, which draws together eight key figures from the movie business in the US, Europe and Asia.


List of film include:

In competition:

A Prairie Home Companion: United States, director Robert Altman.
Candy: Australia, director Neil Armfield.
El Custodio (The Minder): Argentina/France/Germany, director Rodrigo Moreno.
Elementarteilchen (The Elementary Particles): Germany, director Oskar Roehler.
En Soap (A Soap): Denmark/Sweden, director Pernille Fischer Christensen.
Find Me Guilty: United States, director Sidney Lumet.
Der freie Wille (The Free Will): Germany, director Matthias Glasner.
Grbavica: Austria /Bosnia/Germany, director Jasmila Zbanic.
Invisible Waves: Netherlands/Thailand/China, director Pen-ek Ratanaruang.
Isabella: China, director Pang Ho-cheung.
L'ivresse du Pouvoir (Comedy of Power): France/Germany, director Claude Chabrol.
Offside: Iran, director Jafar Panahi.
Requiem: Germany, director Hans-Christian Schmid.
The Road to Guantanamo: Britain, director Michael Winterbottom.
Romanzo Criminale (Crime Novel): Italy/Britain/France, director Michele Placido.
Sehnsucht (Longing): Germany, director Valeska Grisebach.
Slumming: Austria /Switzerland, director Michael Glawogger.
Snow Cake: Britain/Canada, director Marc Evans.
Zemestan (It's Winter): Iran, director Rafi Pitts.


Out of competition:

Capote: United States, director Bennett Miller.
The New World: United States, director Terrence Malick.
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid: The Special Edition: United States, director Sam Peckinpah.
The Science of Sleep: France, director Michel Gondry.
Syriana: United States, director Steve Gaghan.
V for Vendetta: United States/Germany, director James McTeigue.
Wuji (The Promise): China/United States, director Chen Kaige.

DPA