The Berlinale's new Short Film Competition has selected 16 films from 12 countries for this year's line-up. The new shorts programme intends to focus more attention on the short format following the merging of the Competition and Panorama short film programmes.

A three-woman international jury of the producers Peace Anyiam-Fiberesima (Nigeria) and Riina Sildos (Estonia) and the Chinese director Ning Ying will be deciding on the winners of the Golden and Silver Bears, the Prix UIP and a three-month Berlin DAAD scholarship.

'This year's selection stands out due to its impressive variety of forms and genres: from political documentaries through laconic comedies to clever satires, everything is represented,' festival director Dieter Kosslick said.

The programme includes world premieres of three shorts from the UK - Theresa von Eltz's Gecko, Ralitza Petrova's Rotten Apple, and Paul Fraser's Scummy Man - as well as My Mama Learns Cinema from Turkey's Nesimi Yetik, Bus by Germany's Jens Schillmoeller, and The Girl Who Swallowed Bees by Australia's Paul McDermott.

The complete lineup for the Short Film Competition 2007 is:

Along Comes the Rain (Lo que trae la lluvia), dir: Alejandro Fernandez Almendras, Chile

Bus, dir: Jens Schillmoeller, Germany (world premiere)

Contact (Raak), dir: Hanro Smitsman, Netherlands

Court Record - In Memoriam Peter Manfeld (Jegyzoekoenyv - Mansfeld Peter Emlekere), dir: Zoltan Szilagyi Varga, Hungary (world premiere)

Gecko, dir: Theresa von Eltz, UK (world premiere)

Mei, dir: Arvin Chen, Taiwan-China/US (world premiere)

My Mama Learns Cinema (Annem sinema ogreniyor), dir: Nesimi Yetik, Turkey (world premiere)

Pick Up (Decroche), dir: Manuel Schapira, France (world premiere)

Rendez-vous, dir: Marcin Janos Krawczyk, Poland

Rotten Apple, dir: Ralitza Petrova, UK (world premiere)

Scummy Man, dir: Paul Fraser, UK (world premiere)

The Girl Who Swallowed Bees, dir: Paul McDermott, Australia (world premiere)

The Guitar Lesson (La Lecon de Guitare), dir: Martin Rit, France

The Japanese Tradition: Apologies (The Japanese Tradition: Shaiza), dirs: Namikibashi (Junji Kojima and Kentaro Kobayashi), Japan

The Night Before Christmas, dir: Sam Bassett, US (world premiere)

The Stalin That Was Played By Me, dir: Daya Cahen, Netherlands