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Jury member

Paris-born Annette Insdorf, here representing the United States, is not just making her first visit to the Berlinale, but also her first visit to Germany. "I could never come to the Berlinale because I was always teaching classes [at Columbia University in New York], but this was an invitation I could not refuse, although I had to leave an awards presentation in the Tavern on the Green at home before dinner was served to catch the last flight from New York to arrive here on time!"
A regular at Cannes after her literary studies led to academic appreciation of film, she wrote a classic book on Francois Truffaut, and more recently has seen her work on film and the Holocaust - entitled Indelible Shadows - regularly updated and reprinted. "I also write as a film critic for papers like the New York Times and Los Angeles Times and Film Comment magazine, so I am used to seeing at least four new movies a week during term, though they are usually the Hollywood releases," she says. "That's why festivals are so important, to give audiences the chance to see different kinds of cinema. My current loves are The Decalogue and Three Colours by Krzysztof Kieslowski - each time I see his films I find new qualities in them. My parents were Polish so I can speak the language and that has certainly given me a more European attitude towards film. But I hope I shall have some time to explore Berlin, which I only know from history and art."
Philip Bergson