Berlin Film Festival: Christian Petzold, Ann Hui & Albert Serra Among Names Joining Lupita Nyong’o’s International Jury  

The Berlinale Film Festival has unveiled the jury members for its main International Competition, which will be presided over by Lupita Nyong’o. 

The members of the International Jury are American actor and filmmaker Brady Corbet, Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui, German director Christian Petzold, Spanish filmmaker Albert Serra, Italian actress Jasmine Trinca, and Ukrainian novelist and poet Oksana Zabuzhko. 

Nyong’o’s presidential appointment was announced in December. 

The festival also unveiled the three-member jury for its Encounters strand. Lisandro Alonso (Argentina), Denis Côté (Canada), and Tizza Covi (Italy) will pick the competition sidebar’s Best Film, Best Director, and Special Jury award winners. 

The 2024 Berlin Film Festival runs Feb 15 – Feb 25. The festival opens with the Cillian Murphy movie Small Things Like These. The film reveals truths about Ireland’s Magdalen laundries – horrific asylums run by Roman Catholic institutions from the 1820s until 1996, ostensibly to reform “fallen young women.” It takes place over Christmas in 1985, when devoted father and coal merchant Bill Furlong (Murphy) discovers startling secrets kept by the convent in his town, along with some shocking truths of his own. The movie reunites director Tim Mielants (WIL, De Patrick, The Responder) with Murphy, who previously worked together on series three of Peaky Blinders. 

Other standout titles already announced include Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, a feature documentary about influential British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger narrated by Killers of the Flower Moon filmmaker Martin Scorsese. The feature is directed by David Hinton and features rare archival material from the personal collections of Powell, Pressburger, and Scorsese. 

Love Lies Bleeding, the latest feature from British filmmaker Rose Glass will also play in the Specials program. The feature stars Kristen Stewart alongside Weronika Tofilska. A short synopsis describes the pic as “a romance fueled by ego, desire, and the American Dream.” The film will arrive in Berlin following its debut at Sundance.