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London Children's Film Festival, London

Is it wrong that the prospect of a Tim Burton Bedtime Stories Pyjama Party is as appealing to adults as it will be to movie-loving kids? With a sweet-making workshop and screenings of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride, it's just one of loads of great activities over the festival's two weekends, which also include a play-along musical session to two Buster Keaton classics. Adult fans will be dribbling with excitement at the UK premiere of Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo, and there are scores of international features and retro TV treats.

Barbican, Sat to 29 Nov, visit lcff.org.uk

Andrea Hubert

German Film Festival, London

Modern German cinema continues to capture the same spirit of innovation pioneered by 1970s trailblazers Fassbinder and Herzog, with films such as The Lives Of Others gaining a swathe of international awards. And the subject matters at hand...

Tina Mabry's "Mississippi Damned," an independent American production, won the Gold Hugo as the best film in the 2009 Chicago International Film Festival, and added Gold Plaques for best supporting actress (Jossie Thacker) and best screenplay (Mabry). It tells the harrowing story of three black children growing up in rural Mississippi in circumstances of violence and addiction. The film's trailer and an interview with Mabry are linked at the bottom.

Kylee Russell in "Mississippi Damned"

The win came over a crowed field of competitors from all over the world, many of them with much larger budgets. The other big winner at the Pump Room of the Ambassador East awards ceremony Saturday evening was by veteran master Marco Bellocchio of Italy, who won the Silver Hugo as best director for "Vincere," the story of Mussolini's younger brother. Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Filippo Timi won Silver Hugos as best actress and actor,...

Berlin -- Fifty years after he won the Berlin International Film Festival's Golden Bear for his directorial debut "Bitter Reunion," French director and Nouvelle Vague pioneer Claude Chabrol will receive the fest's Berlinale Camera lifetime achievement award.

Chabrol will be honored Feb. 8 at a ceremony at Berlin's Cinema Paris, which will be followed by the screening of his latest film, "Bellamy."

Gunter Rohrbach, producer of such classics as Wolfgang Petersen's "Das Boot" and R. W. Fassbinder's "Berlin Alexanderplatz," also will receive a Berlinale Camera this year. The ceremony is set to take place Feb. 9 at the Friedrichstadtpalast ahead of the gala premiere of Hermine Huntgeburth's "Effi Briest," which Rohrbach produced.