Isabella Rossellini to head Berlin Film Festival jury

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Kelly Rissman

US News Reporter

Italian-American actress and director Isabella Rossellini will head the international jury at the 61st Berlin Film Festival from February 10-20, organisers said on Monday.

"It's fantastic that Isabella Rossellini will be the president of the Berlinale Jury in 2011," said festival director Dieter Kosslick. "She is a multifaceted, creative film artist with extensive experience in European, American and international cinema."

Rossellini, 58, the daughter of "Casablanca" star Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Roberto Rossellini, first won fame for her roles in ex-husband David Lynch's films "Blue Velvet" (1986) and "Wild at Heart" (1990).

In recent years she has become a regular at the Berlin film festival, known as the Berlinale, presenting there in 2008 her directorial debut "Green Porno" about the sexual behaviour of animals including earthworms and snails.

Last year the jury choosing the winners of the Berlin festival's Golden and Silver Bear prizes was headed by Oscar-nominated German director Werner Herzog.

Rossellini stars in Saverio Constanzo's "La Solitudine dei Numeri Primi" ("The Solitude of Prime Numbers"), an adaptation of Paolo Giordano's novel of the same name, screening at the Venice film festival, which starts Wednesday.