The forthcoming Berlinale (February 6-16) will devote a retrospective to the Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth on December 12, 2003.

His most famous work Tokyo Monogatari (Tokyo Story) will be screened at the Berlinale Palast, while other works by and about Ozu will be featured in the festival's various programme sections.

Ozu is widely regarded as one of the leading figures in Japanese cinema history, having influenced filmmakers like Wim Wenders, Paul Schrader and Hou Hsiao Hsien.

The retrospective is being staged in collaboration with Shochiku, the Japanese Embassy in Berlin and the Cologne-based Japanese Foundation, and will be screened afterwards at international festivals in Hong Kong and New York, among others.

Meanwhile, the Berlinale's official Retrospective will be dedicated to F W Murnau (1888-1931), the internationally renowned German director of the silent film era.

Organised by the Film Museum Berlin-Deutsche Kinemathek, Murnau's twelve preserved films such as Nosferatu, The Last Laugh (Der Letzte Mann), Faust, Sunrise and Tabu, will be shown in new, part-restored prints.