The30th anniversary edition of the Berlinale Retrospective next February will bededicated to the screen heroines of the 1950s.

EntitledDream Girls. Film Stars of the Fifties, itthe will focus on the portrayal of femininity in international films of thepost-war period.

Berlinalefestival director Dieter Kosslick said the imagery reflected the changes andcontradictions of the Cold War era.

'Onthe one hand, there was a sense of a new beginning and progress, on the otherhand, nostalgia and prudery. The images of women personified by the great starsof the period reflect the tensions of this decade.'

Theprogramme of 45 films featuring 30 actresses from the USA, Europe and Japan islikely to include such Hollywood icons as Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, MarilynMonroe and Elizabeth Taylor as well as young stars like Japan's Setsuko Hara,Sweden's Harriet Andersson and the USSR's Tatjana Samoilova. In addition, therewill be films starring such cinema legends as Hildegard Knef, Anna Magnani,Ingrid Bergman, Brigitte Bardot and Melina Mercouri.

DreamGirls will be accompanied by a programme of lectures anddiscussions and an exhibition dedicated to Hildegard Knef (which will berunning from November 24 to April 17) at the Filmmuseum Berlin.