The Academy Award-winning and Tony nominated Kenyan-Mexican actor will head the 2024 jury
ADVERTISEMENTLupita Nyong’o has been named the next Jury President for the Berlin Film Festival.
The Kenyan-Mexican actor will preside over the international film festival (referred to as the Berlinale) for its 2024 edition. She replaces Kristen Stewart who was the 2023 Berlinale’s Jury President.
“Lupita Nyong’o embodies what we like in cinema: versatility in embracing different projects, addressing different audiences, and consistency to one idea that is quite recognisable in her characters, as diverse as they may look,” said Berlinale directors Mariëtte Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian.
Nyong’o’s breakout role was in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has since starred in multiple major blockbusters with roles in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, The Jungle Book, both Black Panther films, as well as a lead role in Jordan Peele’s Us.
On stage, Nyong’o has also been acclaimed with a Tony nomination for her role in the Broadway play ‘Eclipsed’ by Danai Gurira.
The festival has also named Tricia Tuttle as the new director. Tuttle succeeds Rissenbeek and Chatrian, the co-artistic and executive directors of the Berlinale since 2020.
Prior to this role, Tuttle was the director of the BFI for five years. By the time she stepped down in 2022, she had doubled the attendance at the annual festival.
2023’s Berlinale, held in February, awarded Nicolas Philibert’s film Sur l'Adamant (On the Adamant) with the Golden Bear, its highest award. Christian Petzold won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize for his film Afire.
