Berlin, Jan 12 (IANS): Celebrated French director Francois Ozon's 'Peter von Kant' will open the upcoming Berlin Film Festival, which is slated to open as an in-person event on February 10.

The film, which stars Denis Menochet, Isabelle Adjani and Hanna Schygulla, is part of the fest's International Competition and will have its world premiere on February 10 at the Berlinale Palast, according to 'Variety'.

"We are beyond thrilled to welcome back Francois Ozon to the festival and are happy to launch our next edition with his new film," said the Berlinale's artistic director Carlo Chatrian. "For this year's opening, we were looking for a film that could bring lightness and verve into our sombre daily lives."

Chatrian continued: "'Peter von Kant' is a theatrical tour de force around the concept of lockdown. In the hands of Ozon, the 'kammerspiel' [an intimate look into the lives of the lower middle class] becomes the perfect container for love and jealousy, seduction and humour -- indeed, everything that makes life and art so entangled."

Ozon is back in competition at Berlin for the sixth time. Twenty years prior, report 'Variety', his ensemble cast for '8 Femmes' won a Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution. The film will be screened this year as part of the festival's homage to Isabelle Huppert. In 2019, Ozon was awarded the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize for 'Grace a Dieu' ('By the Grace of God').