Portugal Colonial - 'Parasite' director Bong Joon-ho to show new film at Berlin festival

Six years ago, Bong won the Palme d'Or at Cannes then an Oscar for best picture for "Parasite" -- the first not in English to do so at the Academy Awards.

Science fiction black comedy "Mickey 17" stars Robert Pattinson as Mickey, who has volunteered in a programme in which cloning allows him to have multiple successive lives to the point where "dying is a habit".

The Berlinale is the first major European film event of the year.

The festival has also announced that it will give a lifetime achievement award to British actor Tilda Swinton, who has also collaborated with Bong in the past.

The festival opens with the latest offering from German film-maker Tom Tykwer, who made his name with "Run, Lola, Run" in 1998.

The 75th edition of the Berlinale runs from February 13 to 23. The full programme and films in the running for the Golden Bear is due to be announced on January 21.

Last year, French-Senegalese director Mati Diop's "Dahomey", a documentary examining Europe's return of looted antiquities to Africa, took the prestigious prize.

V.Fontes--PC