John Lennon - Hamburg Film Festival Plans Beatles Tribute

Film festival bosses in Hamburg, Germany will mark JOHN LENNON's 70th birthday next month (9Oct10) with a special movie tribute to the BEATLES, 50 years after the band first performed in the country.

The Fab Four will be honoured with a special section at Filmfest Hamburg, which runs from 9 September to 9 October (10), when Lennon would have reached the landmark.

The showcase, entitled Strawberry Fields, will feature several film screenings dedicated to the hitmakers, including Sam Taylor Wood's premiere of Nowhere Boy, which chronicles Lennon's early years, his relationships with his aunt and mother, his introduction to rock 'n' roll and budding friendship with former bandmate, Sir Paul MCCartney.

Other screenings include Iain Softley's 1994 film Backbeat, about the Beatles' years in Hamburg, and Horst Koenigstein's 1989 fictional drama Hard Days, Hard Nights, as well as his 1977 documentary on Ringo Starr entitled Ringo und die Stadt am Ende des Regenbogens (Ringo Starr and the City at the End of the Rainbow).

Festival bosses will also showcase the work of local photographer Juergen Vollmer, who is credited with inspiring the band members' iconic hairstyle.

Lennon was shot and killed in New York City in 1980.

Festival bosses aren't the only ones planning a tribute - the legend's widow Yoko Ono will also mark the occasion with a series of special events in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik, including a special concert with the Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band and a presentation of the Lennon Ono Grant for Peace award, created in 2002, to four key figures for their contribution to world harmony.