Berlin's regional subsidy org, the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, contributed financing to all five German films in the Berlinale's main Competition section this year, including out-of-competition screener "V for Vendetta," a coproduction between Warner Bros. and Studio Babelsberg that was shot on the Babelsberg backlot.

A quarter of German film and TV productions come from the Berlin-Brandenburg region, and the German capital's worldwide popularity is on the rise, according to Medienboard officials. In a recent study released by the org, Berlin numbers fourth behind London, Paris and Madrid among the most attractive and creative European media hubs.

Munich remains Berlin's main rival in Germany's film industry and home to the main German companies at this year's super-sized European Film Market in Berlin.

Bavaria Film Intl. will be selling main section contenders "Requiem," "The Free Will," and Michael Glawogger's social study "Slumming," the first Austrian pic in competition in Berlin in 20 years. Bavaria also is carrying Panorama screeners "The Red Cockatoo," which Bavaria Film Intl. head Thorsten Ritter describes as a kind of prequel to "Good Bye, Lenin!" the smash 2003 comedy about the fall of the Berlin Wall. Ritter says "Cockatoo" is clearly aimed at wide audiences.

Fellow Munich company Beta Cinema will be offering "Mongol -- Part I," Sergei Bodrov' s historical epic about Ghengis Khan, coproduced by Berlin-based X Filme; Robert Young's black comedy "Bye Bye Harry," coproduced by fellow Berlin film company NFP Teleart; and " Dresden -- the Inferno," a theatrical version of the TV mini about the World War II Allied firebombing of the German city, produced by Berlin's Teamworx and Munich-based EOS Entertainment.

Two other Berlin companies, Razor Film and Senator Film, are already riding high, thanks to the foreign-language Oscar noms for the internationally-produced Palestinian candidate, "Paradise Now," and the European coproduction "Merry Christmas." Razor Films partnered on the Golden Globe-winning "Paradise Now," while Senator Film teamed on "Merry Christmas," about battlefield opponents during World War I who strike a temporary truce during the holiday season.