Meryl Streep Named President Of Berlin Film Festival Jury

In a coup for Berlin Film Festival director Dieter Kosslick, Meryl Streep will preside over the jury for the 66th running of the event in February. Somewhat unbelievably, this is the first time the multi-Oscar winning actress has been a juror at a film festival.

Streep was awarded an honorary Lifetime Achievement Golden Bear in 2012 and has also been a guest of the Berlinale on several occasions. In 1999, she was awarded the Berlinale Camera, and in 2003 she shared the Silver Bear award with Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman for their performances in The Hours. In 2006, she appeared in competition pic A Prairie Home Companion.

The three-time Academy Award winner (and record holder for most nominations with 19) most recently appeared in Jonathan Demme’s Ricki And The Flash and is also in Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette, which opened the London Film Festival last week and was released in the UK on Monday. She’ll next be seen in tht e title role of Florence Foster Jenkins opposite Hugh Grant in Stephen Frears period take on the real-life heiress who dreamed of being an opera singer despite a cringeworthy voice.

Streep said today, “It is a thrill to return to the festival under any circumstances, but it is with great relish and anticipation I look forward to jury duty. The responsibility is somewhat daunting, as I have never been President of anything before, and I hope I can come up to the precedent set by the distinguished juries of preceding years. Grateful for the honor.”

Berlin runs February 11-21.