Who will get the Golden and Silver Bears at the 73rd Berlinale this year? An international jury headed by US actress Kristen Stewart decides on the most important awards during the film festival. The Berlinale jury includes:
Kristen Stewart (32)
The US actress has made her way from a teenage star in a romantic fantasy series to a sought-after actress in art-house cinema. In recent years, Stewart has opted for more complex roles. Most recently she made a name for herself as Diana in “Spencer”, the role also brought her her first Oscar nomination. Stewart often plays enigmatic women, some of whom remain hidden. With her planned feature film debut as a director, she is working on a film adaptation of the memoirs of Lidia Yuknavitch, who tells of family relationships, a failing swimming career and bisexuality in “The Chronology of Water”.
Golshifteh Farahani (39)
The Tehran-born actress and musician was already in front of the camera as a teenager. She was also successful early on. She received an award at the Fajr International Film Festival for her role in Dariush Mehrjui’s The Pear Tree (1998). She also acted in “Half Moon” or in the Iranian Oscar entry “M For Mother” (both 2006). In 2009, she starred in Asghar Farhadis’ All About Elly. The film was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Director in Berlin. With her increasing international success, the problems at home grew. Finally, in 2009, Farahani moved to Paris, where she has lived ever since. She was nominated for the César for “Patience Stone” (2012) by Atiq Rahimi.
Valeska Grisebach (55)
The development in two film countries is closely linked to the work of the director. Born in Bremen, Grisebach has been active in Germany and Austria since studying in Vienna. Her graduation film “Mein Stern” (2001) received several awards. Her second feature film “Longing” secured her an invitation to the 2006 Berlinale competition. In 2017 she was able to present her film “Western” in Cannes. For the story about a German construction team and the contact problems with the population somewhere on the Bulgarian-Greek border, she received several awards, including the German Film Prize in bronze.
Radu Jude (45)
The Romanian director and screenwriter knows how to handle a Golden Bear. His comedy “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” was awarded the coveted trophy at the Berlinale two years ago in 2021. Even before that, Jude was a frequent guest at the film festivals. Here his first feature films “The Happiest Girl in the World” (2009), “Everybody in Our Family” (2012) and “Uppercase Print” (2020) could be seen. In addition, Jude’s work has repeatedly received awards. With “Aferim!” he secured the Silver Bear for Best Director in 2015. A year later, the Jury Award was presented in Locarno for “Scarred Hearts”.
Francine Maisler (61)
The American is one of the international casting greats. Numerous awards are a sign of this: she was able to secure the Artios Award from the Casting Society of America ten times, she received an Emmy, the Hollywood Film Award and the Independent Spirit Award twice. She was in the cast of “Dune” (2021) by Denis Villeneuve or Maria Schrader’s “She Said” (2022). Maisler also cast numerous Berlinale films. These included Gus Van Sant’s “Milk” (2008) and “Don’t Worry, You Can’t Run Away” (2018), “Knight of Cups” (2015) by Terrence Malick, “Midnight Special” (2016) by Jeff Nichols and ” Vice: The Second Man (2018) directed by Adam McKay.
Carla Simon (36)
The Spanish director has made two feature films so far – Simón has won international awards with both of them. Her autobiographical feature film debut “Fridas Sommer (Estiu 1993)” was shown for the first time in the Berlinale section Generation in 2017. Not only did she win two awards there, the film was showered with more than 30 prizes and was also selected as the Spanish Oscar entry. At the most recent Berlinale 2022, her second feature film “Alcarràs” was unstoppable. Simón secured the Golden Bear at the Berlinale with the drama about orange farmers fighting solar panels. This film also garnered numerous awards afterwards.
Johnnie To (67)
The oldest jury member can look back on a comprehensive work. At first, To worked in television in Hong Kong. The breakthrough in the cinema came with “All About Ah Long” (1989). The Chinese director has made more than 50 films in his career, and he has made even more as a producer. There’s hardly any festival experience left: To was in Cannes with “Election” (2005) and “Vengeance” (2009), “Sparrow” ran in the 2008 Berlinale competition.
