When international film stars Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Shah Rukh Khan and Twilight heartthrob Robert Pattinson tread across the red carpet against a flurry of flashbulbs at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival, one hopes they will be wrapped, like the festival’s iconic bear, in layers of furry warmth.

The 62nd annual Berlinale, held from February 9-19, promises nearly 400 film screenings, including 18 premieres vying for the Golden and Silver Bears, as well as a vast program of film-related events and glamorous parties attended by over 19,000 professional visitors, including 4,000 journalists, from 115 countries.

But unlike Cannes or Venice, the other hosts of the “big three” European film festivals, the Berlinale does not promise warmth. This year it will take some extra courage to leave the theater, with Berlin caught, along with the rest of Europe, in a prolonged stretch of Siberian cold.

Enlarge image Berlin is all set to host its biggest film festival (© dpa) Aside from the bone-chilling temperatures, the Berlinale is distinguished by its egalitarian, inclusive nature. With nearly 300,000 tickets sold and a “Flying Red Carpet” that brings new films, each hosted by a prominent film personality, to the highly individualistic neighborhood theaters of Berlin, the Berlinale claims the title of the world’s largest publicly-attended film festival.

Another distinctive feature of the festival is the melding of art and commerce, as the European Film Market trade fair, held in concert with the Berlinale, brings around 400 companies and 7,000 professionals involved in the business to Berlin for networking and negotiating film deals. In addition, the Berlinale Talent Campus offers multiple workshops uniting fresh talent with experienced professionals, while the Co-Production Market fosters opportunities for international co-productions.

The 2012 festival is set to uphold the Berlinale’s reputation as the most political of the major international film festivals, starting with the opening film Les Adieux à la Reine (Farewell, My Queen), looking at the final hours of Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution. One year after the start of the Arab Spring, the Panorama section of the Berlinale, which for over 32 years has showcased trends in arthouse cinema, will shine its spotlight on historic events in the region with several feature and documentary films.

Another highlight of the 2012 Berlinale will be its Homage section, devoted this year to American actress and Oscar-winner Meryl Streep. On February 14, at a screening of her latest film The Iron Lady, she will be presented with the Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement at a ceremony in the Berlinale Palast.

This year’s Berlinale also features a special section, “Happy Birthday, Studio Babelsberg,” celebrating the 100th anniversary of the legendary film studios outside of Potsdam. The shooting of Babelsberg's first film, Der Totentanz, began on February 12, 1912. In addition to that early silent film, the "Babelsberg" programme will screen nine further films made in Babelsberg during its first century, from Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s Der letzte Mann (The Last Laugh) from 1924, to Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, released in 2002.

Angelina Jolie will attend the Berlinale for the first time as a director as she brings her film In the Land of Blood and Honey to the festival. Up-and-coming American director Alison Klayman’s debut feature documentary, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, on the outspoken Chinese artist and dissident, will screen in the “Special” section of the festival.

Enlarge image Berlinale will also host the premiere of Bollywood movie 'Don 2' (© dpa) But for many of the fans who wait 20 and more hours in the Potsdamer Platz Arkaden shopping center for a chance to buy Berlinale tickets, it’s the movie Don 2: The King is Back, featuring “Bollywood King” Shah Rukh Khan, that excites them more than anything. The Indian action film, the sequel to the 2006 film Don: The Chase Begins Again, was shot partially in Berlin at locations including the Brandenburg Gate, Olympic Stadium, and East Side Gallery.