Actress Renee Zellweger (pictured), Italian writer-director Francesca Comencini and verteran German actress Cornelia Froboess have been confirmed as members of the international jury at the 60th Berlinale, which will be led by director Werner Herzog.

Somali-born writer Nuruddin Farah; Spanish producer José Maria Morales and Chinese actress Yu Nan will also sit on this year’s jury, festival director Dieter Kosslick announced today (January 26). Herzog’s appointment was announced last November.

Meanwhile, this year’s Amnesty International Prize will be decided by a three-person jury composed of German actress Barbara Sukowa; documentary filmmaker Pagonis Pagonakis and Chloe Baird-Murray of Amnesty International in the UK. They will choose from films nominated from the Competition, Panorama and Forum. Last year, the prize went to Hans-Christian Schmid’s political drama Storm (Sturm).

It has also been announced that veteran German film-maker Michael Verheoven will head the three-person jury for this year’s Best First Feature Award, which is open to debut feature films from the Panorama, Generation Kplus and 14plus sections as well as debut films from the Forum.

Verhoeven will be joined in his deliberations by the US actor Ben Foster and the leading Asian film industry figure Lorna Tee. 

Among the films vying for the best first feature award are the competition films Burhan Qurbani’s Shahada and Natalia Smirnoff’s Puzzle, the Panorama films Feo Aladag’s When We Leave, Patrick Hughes’ Red Hill and Jolly Fellows, by Felix Mikhailov, and Forum titles The Drifter, by Tatjana Turanskyj, Arvin Chen ‘s Au Revoir Taipei, and Portrait Of The Fighter As A Young Man, byConstantin Popescu.

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