The 2022 Berlin International Film Festival has named the final six members of its competition jury which, together with jury president M. Night Shyamalan, will pick the Gold and Silver Bear winners of this year’s Berlinale.
Joining The Sixth Sense helmer are Danish star Connie Nielsen (Wonder Woman), Drive My Car director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, French producer Saïd Ben Saïd (Elle), and Brooker Prize-nominated Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga (The Mournable Body). German director Anne Zohra Berrached (24 Weeks) and Brazilian filmmaker Karim Ainouz (Love for Sale) complete the three-woman, four-man international jury.
Berlin also named the three-person jury for its competitive Encounters section, which will be judged by Chiara Maranon, director of content for arthouse streaming platform Mubi, the British director Ben Rivers (Two Years at Sea), and Swiss filmmaker Silvan Zürcher (The Girl and the Spider).
The jury for the GWFF best first feature award includes Italian producer Gaia Furrer, Sri Lankan director Vimukthi Jayasundara, and Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat. The documentary jury judging non-fiction production across Berlin’s Special, Encounters, Panorama, Forum, and Generation sections are Wang Bing from China, Rana Eid from Lebanon, and Germany’s Susanne Schüle.
Berlin last week announced its full competition line-up, which kicks off Feb. 10 with the world premiere of François Ozon’s Peter von Kant, starring Denis Menochet, Isabelle Adjani and Hanna Schygulla. Also in the running for the Golden Bear at the 72nd Berlinale are Claire Denis’ Both Sides of the Blade, starring Juliette Binoche, Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush from German director Andreas Dresen (Grill Point), and Call Jane, the directorial debut of Carol screenwriter Phyllis Nagy, starring Elizabeth Banks, Kate Mara and Sigourney Weaver.
The 2022 Berlinale is being planned as an in-person event to run Feb.10-16, with four days of repeat public screenings through Feb. 20. The competition juries will announce this year’s winners at a gala ceremony in Berlin Feb. 16.