Bill Condon's Kinsey was selected as the closing film for the 55th Berlinale - to screen on Saturday February 19 after the awards ceremony .

The biopic of the sexologist Alfred Kinsey, starring Liam Neeson, Laura Linney and Peter Sarsgaard, will be released by 20th Century Fox in Germany on March 3.

Speaking at the weekend to the AP news agency, festival director Dieter Kosslick said that the themes of Africa and sexuality would be key issues during this year's programme, although lighter fare such as Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic and the Will Smith-starrer Hitch, would also feature in the competition programme.

"We naturally also want to show entertaining films in the competition programme, but the deciding factor is that they also have the corresponding artistic quality," Kosslick said.

Kosslick revealed that the festival was exploring ways in which it could help the Asian countries affected by the tsunami disaster. "The Berlinale does not only want to deal with social reality through films," he argued.