Berlinale chief Dieter Kosslick said the match-up of rock and pop royalty with the big screen's hottest stars promised one of the glitziest years on the red carpet in the event's 58-year history.
Luring Oscar winner Martin Scorsese and the self-proclaimed world's greatest rock'n'roll band to Berlin for the premiere of their concert film "Shine A Light" was a triumph even Kosslick first thought was too good to be true.
"It's a major coup," the 59-year-old told AFP.
"They had to trust us as a festival that we would know how to handle a premiere of this calibre. Because you can only imagine what will be going on that night on the red carpet."
"Shine A Light" will open the February 7-17 event.
Madonna will be in town with her directorial debut "Filth and Wisdom," starring cult British actor Richard E. Grant, Roma punk band Gogol Bordello and a cast of Balkan actors that Kosslick said "look like they walked off the set of an Emir Kusturica film".
The short feature will be showing in the Panorama section outside the main competition.
Other music-driven films handpicked by Kosslick's team include "Om Shanti Om" with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and a documentary on punk godmother Patti Smith -- both of whom will also perform live; a documentary by rock legend Neil Young about Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's 2006 Freedom of Speech Tour; and pictures about Sudanese hip-hop artists and steamy Argentinian tango clubs.
Kosslick, a hobby guitarist and saxophone player, said Berlin was alone among top film festivals in welcoming the general public to screenings, meaning that many of the cinemas could turn into impromptu clubs at the premieres if the stars perform and the audiences want to dance after the film.
He said it was that heady mix of glamour and spontaneity that drew top-drawer talent to the frosty German capital in February.
Other bold-face names on the guest list include Julia Roberts appearing in the family tragedy "Fireflies in the Garden", Oscar nominee Daniel Day-Lewis playing an oil magnate in "There Will be Blood," Cruz in "Elegy" based on a Philip Roth novel, and Johansson and Natalie Portman as two sisters vying for the affections of England's King Henry VIII in "The Other Boleyn Girl".
"We've worked for years to build good relationships with Hollywood -- both the big studios and the independents -- and that has paid off," Kosslick said.
French filmmaker Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind") will unveil "Be Kind Rewind" starring Jack Black as a video store owner who attempts to remake Hollywood classics for his most loyal customer, a woman suffering from dementia (Mia Farrow).
"Many of the films this year are very poetic and detached from the standard personal identities in which we tend to find ourselves," he said.
"That's the beautiful thing about these pictures because it is the hardest thing to do."
Kosslick, now presiding over his seventh Berlinale, said the strength of this year's line-up stemmed from a record number of entries -- more than 5,000 entries from 103 countries -- from which the festival organisers selected about 400 pictures.
He said it would also be another vintage year for Asian cinema after Chinese drama "Tuya's Marriage" (Tuya De Hunshi) took home the Golden Bear top prize in 2007.
Despite censorship faced last year by a popular competition entry, Li Yu's "Lost in Beijing" (Ping Guo), Kosslick actively courted new Chinese productions.
Director Wang Xiaoshuai will present "In Love We Trust" (Zuo You) about a mother's bid to save her firstborn child from cancer.
"It is a small, interesting story that gives us a look inside the turbo-capitalism that people there are swept up in," he said.
Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To will tone down his usual ultra-violent style to present "Sparrow," a look at friendship among pickpockets.
And Japan's Yoji Yamada is to bring a harrowing wartime drama, "Kabei: Our Mother" (Kabei), in keeping with the festival's long tradition of championing cinema that confronts traumatic chapters of recent history.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2008