Director M. Night Shyamalan, a specialist in creepy stories, will be the jury president of the 72nd Berlinale.
It feels like the last Berlinale has only just taken place, later than usual this year, but the next one should go according to plan – and that’s why the jury president for the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival has already been decided: American filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan will be chairman judge the competition. The festival is scheduled to start on February 10, 2022, at its usual date.
“With his films he has created a universe in which fears and longings are closely related, and young people are not only the main characters, but also the driving forces in overcoming fears,” says the statement by Berlinale director Carlo Chatrian . Shyamalan’s latest film “Old” – a film adaptation of a graphic novel in which a group of people cannot leave a beach where time is passing by at breakneck speed – was shown in German cinemas last summer. With only moderate success for his standards, because Shyamalan has made some big box office hits: “The Sixth Sense”, for example, in which Bruce Willis meets a child who sees dead people, or “The Village”, where a village community saves their lives Let fear of monsters determine.
Shyamalan, 51, became famous in the late 90s, a kind of Hollywood child prodigy, specialist in creepy stories and unexpected twists and turns. The film festival circus is a universe in which one likes to be among oneself – someone who does genre cinema is an extraordinary choice as jury president. Unlike other stars of American cinema directing – the Coen brothers or Wes Anderson – Shyamalan never took part in the competitions in Cannes, Berlin or Venice with any of his films.