Fateless (Sorstalansag), the directorial debut of celebrated Hungariancinematographer Lajos Koltai, will make a splash in Berlin as a last minuteentrant to the official competition.

It will play on Wednesday (Feb16) in a time slot vacated by Heights, Chris Terio's New York-set drama, which was previously announced as playing in official selection, out-of-competition. .

Fateless underlines the 2005 festival's emphasis on Germanhistory and wartime self-examination. Based on Imre Kertesz's Nobel Prize-winningnovel, the film follows, a young Jewish boy in 1940s Budapest. A chance encounterwith a policeman on a bus changes the direction of his life and ultimatelysends him the concentration camps.

Festival chief DieterKosslick, said: "we were always very interested in Fateless, but at thetime we closed the programme we could not make it happen. Now we can."

Koltai, who was nominatedfor an Oscar for Malena, has cinematographer credits including thisyear's Oscar nominee Being Julia, Mephisto and The Legend Of 1900 (aka TheLegend Of The Pianist On The Ocean).

Other films touching on Naziand Holocaust themes include Sophie Scholl.. The Last Days incompetition, The Goebbels Experiment (Panorama), 2 Or 3 Things I KnowAbout Him (Panorama), Heroes And Gay Nazis (Panorama) and Who IsHelene Schwarz (Berlinale Special).