I write this to you at 2am from a rather chilly apartment in Berlin, a city crippled by a supposedly 'massive' snowfall that shut down the local airport and left me stuck in Frankfurt for several hours whilst dumping all of one centimeter of snow on the ground. Germans are surprisingly un-hardy people where weather is concerned.

Why Berlin? Because it is currently playing host to the annual Berlinale. The first of the annual Big Three of European festivals -- along with Cannes and Venice -- Berlin has been unspooling its customary blend of big studio pictures and little foreing language indies for the last week now.

"Aha!", you may be thinking. "Movie stars! Glamour! Europe!" Well, the Europe part is right, but the glamour... not so much. You see, I'm not actually here for the festival itself but for the market side of the event, the place where international films are displayed and bought and sold to different territories around the world. There are four major film markets every year -- plus a couple of smaller ones -- and glamorous they ain't. Getting the chance to see good films first can be kind of a kick, but in a weak year, a day packed with five market screenings can be a major grind.  And this year has been pretty weak indeed. In the first four days here I didn't see a single film I really loved and when I finally did hit something pretty special on Day Five, cruel fate dictated that I had to leave half an hour before it finished to go attend a meeting that yielded nothing in particular. No Scorsese or Polanski for me. Nope.

But enough griping about leading a life that pays me to fly to Europe from time to time. Back at home there is an embarrassment of filmic riches. For the multiplex, Scorsese's Shutter Island -- received with a fair bit of love here in Berlin -- while those fortunate enough to get access to the limited releases have a trio of good ones to choose from in Peter Stebbings' superhero comedy Defendor -- reviewed here -- Andrea Arnold's much lauded indie-drama Fish Tank, and Cree film maker Neil "Not The Guy You're Thinking Of" Diamond's history of the Native people on Hollywood screens Reel Injun. This is one of those weeks where it's pretty much impossible to see all the worthwhile stuff and if I had to make a choice between them I'd probably give the edge to Reel Injun.  Diamond's film isn't just loaded with information, it's also hugely entertaining.

It's a good week -- get out and watch something.