Juries

Director, screenwriter, film composer, and producer Tom Tykwer made his first feature, Deadly Maria, in 1993, and achieved his international breakthrough with Run Lola Run in 1998. After The Princess and the Warrior (2000), Tykwer made his first film in English: Heaven, based on Krzysztof Kieślowski’s last screenplay, opened the Berlinale in 2002. Further international productions followed with his adaptation for the screen of Patrick Süskind’s novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) and The International (Berlinale opening film in 2009). After Three (2010), for which Tykwer won the German Film Award for Best Director, came Cloud Atlas (2012), on which he collaborated as a director for the first time with the Wachowskis (the Matrix trilogy). Tykwer went on to compose music for and direct several episodes of the siblings’ Netflix series Sense8 (2015-2017). Tykwer’s feature A Hologram for the King with Tom Hanks in the lead was released in 2016. The filmmaker, who has won countless prizes, has presented six of his films at the Berlinale, most recently the projects Germany 09, 13 Short Films About the State of the Nation (2009), and Rosakinder (2013), both anthology films made with other German directors. In 2017, with Achim von Borries and Henk Handloegten, Tykwer developed and co-directed the highly-acclaimed German series Babylon Berlin.

Born in Belgium, Cécile de France studied acting in Paris and Lyon. Since 2000, she has appeared regularly in French and international productions. Her big breakthrough was under the direction of Cédric Klapisch in L’auberge espagnole (2002). Later she starred alongside Jackie Chan in Around the World in 80 Days (2004), and filmed with directors such as Xavier Giannoli (Chanson d’amour, 2006 and Superstar, 2012), Claude Miller (Un secret, 2007), Clint Eastwood (Hereafter, 2010), and the Dardenne brothers (Le gamin au vélo, 2010). Most recently she played alongside Jude Law in Paolo Sorrentino’s series, The Young Pope (2016); as well as in Etienne Comar’s Django (2017), the opening film of last year’s Berlinale. Cécile de France has already won two French César Awards. She was nominated for a European Film Award in 2011 and received a Shooting Star Award at the Berlinale in 2003.

After studying architecture and interior design, Chema Prado began working for various film magazines. Then in 1976 he took a position as head of programming at the Filmoteca Española (Spanish National Cinemateque). In 1987 he was appointed the institution’s deputy director; and two years later, its director, a post he held until 2016. For several years he was a member of the Executive Committee of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF). He was also a consultant for the San Sebastian International Film Festival, as well as a jury member at many festivals, including Cannes, Sundance, Locarno, Rotterdam, and Venice. In addition, he is a dedicated photographer and has shown his works in numerous Spanish galleries and museums, as well as in Portugal, France, and Mexico. He was named a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres by the French government, and has been honoured with several Spanish orders of merit, including the Encomienda de Número al Mérito Civil.

Adele Romanski recently won both an Oscar and a Golden Globe for producing Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight (2017). Together, she and Jenkins founded the production company PASTEL along with partners Sara Murphy and Mark Ceryak. Prior to this Romanski produced David Robert Mitchell’s The Myth of the American Sleepover (2010), which premiered in Cannes and won her an Independent Spirit Award nomination; and Chad Hartigan’s Sundance competition entry, Morris from America (2016). In addition she also produced the second season of the Golden Globe-nominated series The Girlfriend Experience alongside executive producer Steven Soderbergh, Amy Seimetz and Lodge Kerrigan. Romanski is currently producing two new films, If Beale Street Could Talk directed by Jenkins and Under The Silver Lake by Mitchell. Both are now in post-production and will be premiered later this year.

Born 1952 in Tokyo, Sakamoto debuted in 1978 with his solo album “Thousand Knives”. The same year he joined the pioneering electronic-music pop group Yellow Magic Orchestra. In 1983, Sakamoto scored the soundtrack for Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, in which he co-starred with David Bowie. Since those early days he has released over a dozen solo albums, created art installations exhibited in various museums around the world, and composed more than thirty film scores for directors including Bernardo Bertolucci, Pedro Almodóvar, Brian De Palma, and more recently Alejandro González Iñárritu for whom he composed the music of The Revenant. His work has been recognized with accolades including an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, a Grammy, and more. Sakamoto has been a fervent defender of environmental and social causes and is particularly committed to reforestation and supporting the victims of the 3/11 earthquake, tsunami, and anti-nuke activism. In 2017, along with the release of his 16th solo album async and the documentary Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (Stephen Nomura Schible), Sakamoto continued composing film scores, presenting site specific performances, and created audio/visual installation work, IS YOUR TIME with Shiro Takatani.

Since 2015 Stephanie Zacharek has been the film critic at TIME, the renowned US news magazine. She was previously chief film critic at The Village Voice and Salon.com. Zacharek, who lives in New York, began her career in the 1980s. She has published articles and reviews in the New York Times, the New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, and in magazines such as Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and Sight & Sound. In 2015 she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism. Zacharek, who studied at Syracuse University, is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics. She is a regular on international film festival juries, most recently at Tribeca, Mumbai, Busan, and the SXSW in Austin. Over the years Zacharek has also participated in many Berlinale Talents panel discussions and events.

Diogo Costa Amarante completed his Master of Fine Arts at New York University / Tisch School of the Arts in 2016 with his film Cidade Pequena, which celebrated its international premiere at the 67th Berlinale in 2017 and received the Golden Bear for Best Short Film. Amarante is a member of the widely acclaimed third generation of Portuguese filmmakers, whose works have established an impressive position for Portugal in the cinematic world. His first film Jumate/Jumate received accolades at many festivals, and in 2007 he received a scholarship for documentary film and cinematography at the School of Cinema and Audiovisuals of Catalonia (ESCAC). In 2009, he was a participant at Berlinale Talents, and shot his second documentary film In January, perhaps.

Filmmaker Jyoti Mistry is an Associate Professor and Deputy Head of Division at the Wits School of Arts in South Africa. She received the CILECT Teaching Award (The International Association of Film and Television Schools) in 2016 in recognition of her outstanding achievements in film pedagogy and film practice research. Her research areas include cultural policy, questions of identity, and multiculturalism. Her experimental film The Bull On the Roof (2010) celebrated its debut at the Durban International Film Festival and was presented at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris, among other institutions. Her feature film Impunity (2014) celebrated its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and her most recent short film When I Grow Up I Want to Be a Black Man was a competition selection at the short film festival Winterthur in 2017. Her publications include “'we remember differently': Race, Memory, Imagination” (2012), “Gaze Regimes: Film and Feminisms in Africa” (2015) and “Places to Play – Practice, Research & Pedagogy” (2017) which was adapted for the screen.

Mark Toscano has functioned as curator and presenter of stand-out programmes for many noted institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art, Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art, EYE Filmmuseum, Tate Modern, Los Angeles Filmforum, as well as for festivals in Rotterdam, London, Oberhausen, Zagreb and Bangalore. In addition, he lectures on experimental film and archiving at numerous universities. At the California Institute of the Arts, he is an instructor in the area of Experimental Animation. A distinguished filmmaker and curator, Mark Toscano has been a contributor to the conservation of cinematic heritage at the Academy Film Archive since 2003, where he specialises in the conservation of noteworthy films, maintaining exchange with over 100 international filmmakers.

Jonas Carpignano, who was born in 1984, grew up in New York City and Rome. His directorial debut, Mediterranea, premiered in the Semaine de la Critique at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015. Not only was it nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards, but it also won the Gotham Award for breakthrough director and a prize from the National Board of Review. His next feature film was also a huge success: A Ciambra, which had its premiere in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in 2017, received the Europa Cinemas Label Award for best European film. It was also voted best Italian film of the year by the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists (SNCCI), earned Carpignano a nomination for best director at the Independent spirit awards and was chosen to represent Italy at the Oscars. Carpignano, who was a Berlinale Talent in 2012, was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2016. He continues to live and work in Southern Italy.

Born in Romania in 1975, Călin Peter Netzer emigrated with his family to Germany when he was eight. After finishing school in Stuttgart, he studied directing in Bucharest, where he graduated in 1999. After many of his short films had won prizes at international festivals, Maria (2003), his first full-length feature, premiered at the Locarno Festival, where it took home several awards. Its leading actress was also nominated for the European Film Award. Netzers second feature film Medal of Honour (2009) was presented at more than 30 film festivals and received several awards. In 2013 Netzer won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale for his family drama Child’s Pose. The film went on to win eight national Romanian film awards and a nomination for the European Film Award. With Ana, mon amour, he returned to the Berlinale Competition in 2017. For its editing, the film received the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.

Noa Regev has been the executive director of the Jerusalem Cinematheque since 2013. This position also includes heading the Israel Film Archive as well as the Jerusalem Film Festival, which under her direction has grown in size and significance, both nationally and internationally. Regev completed her studies at the School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University with a doctoral thesis on genre in cinema as exemplified by children's film. Since then she has lectured at many academic institutions all over Israel. Prior to taking up her duties in Jerusalem, she headed the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival and the Holon Cinematheque.

Born in Portugal, Cíntia Gil studied at the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema (Lisbon Theatre and Film School) and holds a degree in Philosophy from the Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto (Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Porto), where she has also taught seminars on aesthetics. Since 2012, Cíntia Gil and Davide Oberto have served as co-directors of the Doclisboa, Portugal’s most important and steadily expanding documentary film festival. Gil has curated a variety of contemporary and historical film series, retrospectives, and exhibitions. In addition, she has been a member of the executive board of Apordoc – Associação pelo Documentário, the Portuguese documentary film association since 2015. Gil, whose texts have appeared in numerous publications on philosophy and art, is also a regular guest at panel discussions and conferences, and on international festival juries.

By the 1970s Ulrike Ottinger had established herself as one of Germany’s most important and versatile directors. A Berliner by choice, her best known films, for which she also wrote the scripts and operated the camera, include The Enchantment of the Blue Sailors (1975); the “Berlin trilogy” - Ticket of No Return (1979), Freak Orlando (1981), and Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Yellow Press (1984); as well as The Korean Wedding Chest (2008); and Johanna d’Arc of Mongolia (1989), for which she received a German Film Award and the Audience Award at the Montréal Women’s Film Festival. Ottinger, who as an artist and photographer has participated in international exhibitions, is a regular at the Berlinale. Most recently, in 2011, she presented Under Snow; in 2016, the 12-hour documentary Chamisso’s Shadow, which opened the Forum and won the German Film Critics Award. Ottinger’s works have often been shown at renowned institutions, such as the Cinémathèque française, Centre Pompidou, New York’s MoMA, and the documenta in Kassel.

Eric Schlosser is an investigative journalist, playwright, screenwriter, and filmmaker. His book “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal” (2001) became an international bestseller and contributed decisively to the growing rebellion against the industrialisation of food production. In 2014, his book “Command and Control” became a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. As a producer, he worked on Richard Linklater’s screen adaptation of Fast Food Nation (2006), Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood (2007), and the Oscar-nominated documentary Food, Inc., which screened in the Berlinale Special in 2009. As co-director of the bomb, an experimental film on the history of the atomic bomb, Schlosser was invited to the Berlinale Special in 2017. His articles have appeared in, e.g., the New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and Vanity Fair.