The incarcerated Ukrainian director has been named an honorary jury member at the forthcoming festival.

The San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 19-27) has unveiled the jury for its 62nd edition, which includes imprisoned Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov.

The director, who has been involved in supporting the Euro Maidan protests in Kiev and has opposed the annexation of Crimea by Russia, was arrested on May 10 by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) in his house in Simferopol and brought to a Moscow prison where he is still detained and awaiting trial for “committing crimes of a terrorist nature”.

In July, the campaign to free the film-maker from detention in Russia was taken to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). A Moscow court ruled that Sentsov should remain in prison until Oct 11 when a trial is due to be held.

To defend freedom of expression and on request by the European Film Academy (EFA), San Sebastian follows festivals such as Motovun and Venice in naming Sentsov an honorary member of its jury.

The jury will be presided over by Fernando Bovaira, the Spanish producer of international hits such as Open Your Eyes, The Others and Biutiful. His next feature will be Alejandro Amenábar’s Regression, starring Ethan Hawke and Emma Watson.

Other members of the jury include:

  • Singaporian filmmaker Eric Khoo, who directed Palme d’Or nominated Be With Me;

  • Venezuelan director Mariana Rondon, whose most recent feature was festival favourite Bad Hair;

  • Iran-born filmmaker Marjane Satrapi, director of Persepolis and The Voices;

  • German actress Nastassja Kinski;

  • cinematographer Reinhold Vorschneider;

  • Romanian actor Vlad Ivanov, whose recent credits include Snowpiercer, Into the Fog and Child’s Pose.

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