Isle Of Dogs to open Berlin Film Festival

Wes Anderson returns to event with animation.

by Amber Wilkinson

Isle Of Dogs will open the Berlinale
Isle Of Dogs will open the Berlinale Photo: 20th Century Fox

The 68th Berlin International Film Festival will open at the Berlinale Palast on February 15, 2018 with the world premiere of Wes Anderson’s animated film Isle Of Dogs, which features the voice talents of Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber and Bill Murray.

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.

Share this with others on...
News

Desert dogs Zeshaan Younus and Renee Gagner on I’ve Seen All I Need To See

Inviting curiosity Ildikó Enyedi on the value of science, perception, discovery and Silent Friend

Streaming Spotlight: the rites of Spring We shine our Beltane spotlight on films in which the old ways linger

Fighting fit for a debut feature Valéry Carnoy talks toxic masculinity, memory, confidence and Belgian 'soft-power'

Collective power We look ahead at the programme of this year's Folk Film Gathering

First wave of titles announced for Fantasia 2026 Sensory strangeness, queer vampires, sinister shopping and more lined up for Montreal.

More news and features

We're bringing you news and reviews from the San Francisco Independent Film Festival and Queer East.



We're looking forward to Cannes.



We've recently brought you coverage of Visions du Réel, Fantaspoa, Overlook, BFI Flare and SXSW, the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, the NY Rendezvous with French Cinema, the Glasgow Film Festival, the Berlinale, Sundance and Palm Springs.



Read our full for more.


Visit our festivals section.

Interact

Don't forget that you can follow us on YouTube for trailers of festival films and more. You can also find us on Mastodon and Bluesky.


It's a busy time for festivals and here's the latest from the spring events:


Cannes 16 titles added to line-up


Cannes Announces full jury


Cannes Directors' Fortnight selection


Cannes Payal Kapadia heads Critics' Week jury