The 68th annual Berlinale Film Festival opens Wednesday night with 24 films screening in competition. 

There is one film from Asia competing. It is "Season of the Devil" by Lav Diaz from the Philippines.

China may not be in competition, but its mega-hit "Monster Hunt 2" will make its European debut during the festival with a special gala screening. This sequel follows monster King Wuba as he faces another threat from the dark lord who plots to seize the throne. Presale tickets for the film are expected to surpass 16 million US dollars before the movie opens in theaters on Friday. The first "Monster Hunt" movie grossed 382 million US dollars in 2015, setting a record at the time. 

The world premiere of Wes Anderson’s animated film “Isle of Dogs” is making Berlinale history.

“I’m 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,” said the festival’s director Dieter Kosslick.

“Isle of Dogs” tells a story set in the future, in which an outbreak of canine flu leads the mayor of a Japanese city to banish all dogs to an island that's a garbage dump.

The voice cast includes Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Bill Murray, 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.

Anderson has previously presented three films in the Berlinale Competition over the years. They are “The Royal Tenenbaums” (2002), “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” (2005), and “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (2014) which opened the 64th edition of the festival and won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize.

This year’s members of the Berlinale’s International Jury include director and screenwriter Jonas Carpignano (Italy), director, screenwriter, and producer Călin Peter Netzer (Romania), and director of the Jerusalem Cinematheque Noa Regev (Israel). Attending as well are the three members of the Glashütte Original ― Documentary Award jury: curator and co-director of the Doclisboa Cíntia Gil (Portugal); director, painter and photographer Ulrike Ottinger (Germany); and author, producer and director Eric Schlosser (USA).

Since 1951, the Competition has been the heart of the Berlinale. For over 60 years, it has been setting trends for new cinema, screening new productions from across the globe. The final selection is made by the festival director.