14/10/2015 - For the first time ever, the Oscar-winning US actress will take on the role of a juror at a festival

The international jury that will have the honour of giving out the Bears at the 66th edition of the Berlin Film Festival (11-21 February 2016) will be chaired by Oscar-winning US actress Meryl Streep, who has never taken on this role at a festival at any point in her entire career.

Dieter Kosslick, the director of the great winter cinematic gathering, pointed out that Streep's creativity and immense versatility had already earned her an Honorary Golden Bear in 2012. He declared that he was “delighted that she is coming back to Berlin to bring her artistic experience” to the jury.

Meryl Streep has more than 40 films under her belt, in addition to a record 19 nominations for the Oscars (three of which she went on to win) and 20 nominations for the Golden Globes (eight of which she cashed in on). She rose to fame in the series Holocaust and in The Deer Hunter by Michael Cimino (1978), followed by Kramer vs Kramer (1979), Manhattan by Woody Allen (1979), Sophie's Choice (1982) and of course Out of Africa (1985), to mention just a few of her best movies. Streep also won fame in the comedy domain, in such recent titles as The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and Mamma Mia, the musical by Phyllida Lloyd (2008), whom she teamed up with again in 2011 to play Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady [+see also:
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making of
film profile]. She is just about to appear on screens once again in Suffragette [+see also:
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making of
film profile] by Sarah Gavron.

At Berlin, before receiving the Honorary Bear, Streep won the Berlinale Camera in 1999 and the Silver Bear for Best Actress in 2003 (shared with her colleagues Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman) for The Hours.

Meryl Streep said she was thrilled and honoured to have been chosen as chair of the jury at Berlin: “The responsibility is somewhat daunting, as I have never been president of anything before. I hope I can come up to the precedent set by the distinguished juries of preceding years.”

(Translated from French)