Isle Of Dogs will open the Berlinale Photo: 20th Century Fox |
Anderson has previously presented three films in the Berlinale Competition: The Royal Tenenbaums (2002), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2005), and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) which opened the 64th Berlin International Film Festival and won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize.
Festival director Dieter Kosslick said: “I’m most delighted that Wes Anderson will kick off the Berlinale Competition again. Isle of Dogs will be the first animated film to open the Festival – a film that will capture audiences’ hearts with its Wes Anderson charm.”
Isle of Dogs tells the story of Atari Kobayashi, 12-year-old ward to a corrupt mayor. When, by executive decree, all the pet dogs of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump, Atari sets off flies off on his own to Trash Island in search of his bodyguard-dog Spots. There, with the assistance of a pack of new-found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey that will decide the fate and future of the entire Prefecture.
The voice cast also includes Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson, Kunichi Nomura, Tilda Swinton, Ken Watanabe, Akira Ito, Greta Gerwig, Akira Takayama, Frances McDormand, F. Murray Abraham, Courtney B Vance, Yojiro Noda, Fisher Stevens, Mari Natsuki, Nijiro Murakami, Yoko Ono, Harvey Keitel and Frank Wood.
Isle of Dogs will release in US cinemas on March 23, 2018 and in UK cinemas on March 30.