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Garcia Bernal, Dafoe on Berlin film fest jury
2007-01-11
Hollywood screenwriter and director Paul Schrader will chair the 57th Berlin International Film Festival jury including stars such as Gael Garcia Bernal and Willem Dafoe. The jury, which chooses the winners of the Berlinale's coveted Golden and Silver Bear top prizes, will also include Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass, German actor Mario Adorf, Hong Kong film producer Nansun Shi and Danish film editor Molly Malene Stensgaard. The Berlinale, running February 8 to 18, ranks just below Cannes and alongside Venice among Europe's premier film festivals. Schrader, 60, is best known for directing "American Gigolo" which propelled Richard Gere to stardom. He is also a frequent collaborator with director Martin Scorsese and wrote the screenplays for "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull" and "The Last Temptation of Christ". Dafoe most recently starred in "Inside Man" and "Spider-Man", while the multilingual Mexican actor Garcia Bernal can currently be seen in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel", which is already generating Oscar buzz. Abbass appeared in the controversial, critically acclaimed picture "Paradise Now" and Steven Spielberg's "Munich". Adorf, one of Germany's most popular actors, starred in Volker Schloendorff classics such as "The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum" and the film based on Guenter Grass's novel "The Tin Drum". Nansun Shi was described by Variety magazine as one of the world's 50 most influential independent filmmakers. She produced the Hong Kong blockbuster "Infernal Affairs" and Tsui Hark's martial arts thriller "Seven Swords". Stensgaard has worked closely with compatriot Lars von Trier on films including "Dancer in the Dark", "Dogville", and "Manderlay". Among the films headlining the competition section of the festival are Robert De Niro's "The Good Shepherd", "The Good German" starring George Clooney and "I'm A Cyborg But That's OK" by South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook.
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