Isabella Rossellini will head the jury of the upcoming Berlin Film Festival, it as been announced. The names of her fellow jury members, however, have yet to be revealed.
The Berlinale 2011 takes place between 10 - 20 February.
This makes Isabella Rossellini the third female jury president in five years, after Charlotte Rampling in 2006 and Tilda Swinton in 2008. Isabella Rossellini has long been a regular at the Berlin Film Fest, her first appearance having been in 1993, when Peter Weir's film Fearless kicked off that year's official selection with Rossellini playing one of the leads alongside Jeff Bridges. Rossellini also played the female lead in Jeroen Krabbe's Holocaust drama Left Luggage, which had its première at the 1998 Berlinale with Isabella in attendance.
Isabella Rossellini in David Lynch's classic, Blue Velvet (USA 1986)
In recent years, Rossellini also attended the Forum section of the Berlinale on several occasions, once as the narrator of Guy Maddin's silent Brand Upon The Brain!, and two years ago to present her own film, Green Porno, which documents the sexual behaviour of insects. Green Porno was Rossellini's brainchild, and produced and written by her.
In 1992, Isabella Rossellini also made a film in Berlin, John Schlesinger's The Innocent, a Cold-War drama based on a book by Ian McEwan, which was shot entirely on location in and around Berlin as well as in Babelsberg.
Isabella Rossellini in Jeroen Krabbe's Left Luggage (USA, Belgium, UK, Netherlands, 1998)
Isabella Rossellini is a more than apt choice for jury president, and not simply because of her extraordinary heritage which links her intrinsically to the history of film. Much more importantly, she is an artist who never tires to go new ways and who is more at home in independent (for lack of a better word) than in mainstream cinema, a penchant which is very much in line with the Berlinale. Moreover, in addition to being an actress, Isabella Rossellini has gained experience in producing, writing and directing, making her an expert in literally all fields the cinema has to offer.
Isabella Rossellini
