TEHRAN – Iranian critic Hamed Soleimanzadeh has been selected for the FIPRESCI jury at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival – Berlinale.

Film critics Bettina Hirsch from Germany and Alexander Zwart from the Netherlands are other members of the jury, the Persian service of IRNA reported on Monday.

The juries of the Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique (FIPRESCI), the international film critics association, view films from the Competition program and the Encounters, Panorama and Forum sections. They award a prize for the best film in each of these sections.

Soleimanzadeh has been among the selection committee and jury members of many Iranian and international film festivals, including the 74th Cannes Film Festival, 44th Goteborg International Film Festival in Sweden, 25th Schlingel International Film Festival for Children and Young Audiences in Germany, and the 14th River International Film Festival in Italy.

Hirsch is a well-established freelance film and theater critic, a jury member at various national and international film festivals, as well as a radio editor and host.

Zwart works as a film programmer and writes for the Dutch monthly movie magazine, De Filmkrant. In addition, he is the co-founder and director of CineMeow – a film event focused on cats and films that roam from screen to screen, just like stray cats do.

The Berlin film festival will take place in the German capital from February 10 to 20.

The Iranian movies “The Apple Day” by Mahmud Ghaffari and “Deer” by Hadi Babaifar have been selected to be screened in the Generation Kplus competition of the festival.

Photo: Iranian critic Hamed Soleimanzadeh in an undated photo.

MMS/YAW