Romanian director Calin Peter Netzer will be in the jury of the GWFF Best First Feature Award category at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale).

Debut feature films from the festival’s sections Competition, Panorama, Forum, Generation or Perspektive Deutsches Kino compete for the award, which is endowed with EUR 50,000, funded by GWFF (Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film- und Fernsehrecht), a society dedicated to safeguarding film and television rights. Romanian film Touch Me Not is among the nominees, as it was selected in the Competition section.

Calin Peter Netzer was born in Romania in 1975 but emigrated with his family to Germany when he was eight. His first full-length feature Maria (2003) premiered at the Locarno Festival, where it received several awards. Its leading actress was also nominated for the European Film Award.

Moreover, the Romanian director’s second feature film Medal of Honour (2009) was presented at more than 30 film festivals and received several awards. Four years later, in 2013, Calin Peter Netzer also won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale for Child’s Pose. He then returned to Berlinale’s Competition section in 2017 with his film Ana, Mon Amour, which received the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.

The other two jury members of the GWFF Best First Feature Award are Italian Jonas Carpignano and Israel’s Noa Regev.

The 2018 Berlinale takes place between February 15 and February 25.

Additional Romanian film enters Berlinale 2018 section

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(photo source: IMDB)