Juliette Binoche Named Jury President of 2019 Berlin Film Festival

By Henry Chu

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Oscar-winning French actress Juliette Binoche will preside over the main jury at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival.

Binoche is known worldwide for her work in such films as “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” and “Chocolat.” She won an Academy Award and a Silver Bear in Berlin for her role in Anthony Minghella’s “The English Patient,” and has a longstanding relationship with the Berlinale, where “The Night Is Young” screened in competition in 1987 and “The Lovers on the Bridge” in the Forum section in 1992.

“I’m very pleased that Juliette is president of the 2019 international jury,” said Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick. “The festival shares a strong connection with her, and I’m very happy that she’ll be returning to the festival in this distinguished position.”

Binoche thanked Kosslick, who is retiring after the 2019 festival, for the “tremendous honor” of presiding over the jury. “It means the world to me! I’m looking forward to this special rendezvous with the entire jury and will embrace my task with joy and care,” Binoche said.

Her recent movies include Japanese auteur Naomi Kawase’s ” Vision ,” Clair Denis’ “High Life” and Olivier Assayas’ ” Non-Fiction ” (“Doubles vies”), which Sundance Selects acquired for the U.S. She won the prize for best actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010 for her role in Abbas Kiarostami’s “Certified Copy.” Binoche was also feted by Unifrance this year with its French Cinema Award.

Danish director Lone Scherfig’s “The Kindness of Strangers” has already been announced as the opening movie of the 69th edition of the Berlinale . The festival runs Feb. 7-17, 2019.