Chinese director Wong to lead Berlin festival jury

BERLIN (AFP) ― Award-winning Chinese director Wong Kar Wai will lead the jury of the 63rd Berlin film festival in February, which traditionally highlights Asian cinema, organizers said Tuesday.

Wong, best known for his 2000 slow-burn drama “In the Mood for Love,” will lead a panel that will tap the winners of the Golden and Silver Bear prizes at one of Europe’s top cinema showcases running Feb. 7 to 17.

“Wong Kar Wai is one of the most celebrated film-makers of our time. His distinctive signature and the poetry of his works have fascinated all of us,” festival director Dieter Kosslick said in a statement.

“For him to become jury president is a wish come true. Since the 1980s, the Berlinale has established itself as a platform for contemporary Chinese cinema, which is another reason why we are greatly honoured that Wong Kar Wai will be presiding (over) the International Jury 2013.”

The festival quoted Wong, who was born in Shanghai and grew up in Hong Kong, as saying he was “truly honoured” by the invitation.

“It would be a fulfilling experience for any cineaste,” he said.

Wong made his international breakthrough in 1994 with “Chungking Express.”

In 2006, Wong became the first Chinese director to sit on the jury at Cannes, where he had picked up a best director prize in 1997 for “Happy Together.”

“2046,” a science fiction-tinged follow up to “In the Mood for Love,” won a European Film Award in 2004 while “My Blueberry Nights” starring Jude Law and singer Norah Jones opened Cannes in 2007.

He is currently working on “The Grandmasters” with Chinese superstars Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi.

This year’s Berlinale jury president was British director Mike Leigh, who awarded the Golden Bear to Italy’s veteran film-makers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani for “Caesar Must Die,” a docu-drama about inmates at a high-security prison staging Shakespeare.